Legend: Book 1: Continent at War
by Herr Wozzeck
Summary: The first book of Legend. Ike set out from Tellius in search of lands never found. The first land he finds is not only inhabited, but on the verge of war for the first time in over nine hundred years...
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

Hello, everybody. Here's me with what hopes to be my longest work on this site. True, it doesn't seem large, but it's only one book in an epic that hopes to be at least five books long. I'm not kidding.

Anyways, you know the rest. Disclaimers? Here ya go:

Fire Emblem does not belong to me; it belongs to the folks at Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Some story elements are taken from various other things, but I'm nt going to produce a long list of which ones are which until I get there. Unless otherwise stated, all original characters are mine.

So here you have it. Here's the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and if you read it, please leave a review.

* * *

Chapter 1: Beginnings

The first thing he felt upon regaining consciousness was the incredible pain flying up the side of his body.

He shuffled around a little, the pain becoming worse due to the very light ministrations. His eyes were still closed, but he could just imagine what was buried in his side right then.

After a few seconds of moving around, he realized that he had to stop moving just to keep the pain at bay. He immediately eased and found that the pain was much less.

He was not sure what had happened. But all he had remembered before he had been knocked out was the raging storm that had been surrounding him at the beginning. And after that, he was not sure what had happened.

Oh well. It could have been much worse than that. For all he knew, he could be dead; the only thing that was telling him otherwise was the pain in the side of his body. He was sure that he was not dead just from the fact that he still had that one sensation. It was not a very pleasant one, to be sure, but he was still grateful that it was there anyways.

He laid still, his own raspy breath and the apparent advance of the tide being his only companions.

Ever so slowly, he blacked out completely again, just as the pain had begun fading away from his memory.

* * *

"Hey, Maria! Catch!"

A cat laguz turned to face the direction of the call, almost panicking when a rather large ball was sent flying at her. She screeched suddenly, transforming into her beast form almost immediately and darting off to the side as the projectile rolled by the spot she had once stood on.

Upon dodging the projectile, the cat laguz transformed back into her human state, her lavender eyes scanning the area nervously only to find a raven laguz on the other side of the beach.

"Ugh, Gaston!" yelled the young woman, lavender hair flying around her face to accentuate her annoyance. "You know I hate it when you throw things at me!"

"Hey, you know you like what I threw at you, Maria!" shouted the raven from farther up on the beach, his feet being partially submerged in the low tide. "It's your favorite!"

The cat looked to her left to find that the rather large ball was really nothing more than a coconut. It was true that she did like them very much, but to have them tossed at her person was another thing entirely.

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes towards the sky, the cat laguz went over to the coconut and picked it up.

"Thanks!" she yelled towards the raven. "But don't throw it at me next time, will you?"

"Course I will!" shouted the raven, amber eyes looking at his companion before he burst into a hearty laughter.

"Oh, Gaston…" replied the cat under her breath, pretending to pout while walking up to her companion.

Maria and Gaston had both managed to sneak out into the beach that day. Usually, the village seer was against such behavior as the ones that the two of them would stir when they were on the beach alone. But this time, the two of them were surprised that the seer let them go to the beach. So they decided to take full advantage of it, stirring up all of the pranks and all of the practical jokes that came along with their visits.

When the cat laguz walked up to her companion, the two of them nodded to each other with smiles on their faces and began walking along the sand, their feet barely touching the light mask of bubbles left behind by the waves that washed onto the sand every so often. As they walked, Maria faced the raven.

"You know, I wanted to ask you something," said Maria.

"Sure," replied Gaston. "What's up?"

"Whatever happened with that dragon girl that you met the other day?" asked the cat, scratching the fur behind one of her ears upon finding an itch in there.

"Oh, her?" said the raven somewhat droopily, his gaze averting to the vast oceans that were just to his right. "She left the village yesterday."

"Oh, really?" asked Maria. "What happened?"

"She had to leave," replied the raven, a hand running through his jet-black hair as he walked. "You know. The typical, 'my daddy is oppressive and won't let me do anything' type, you know?"

"I'm sure," replied Maria, fighting back the urge to laugh at how Gaston had worded his reply. "Did she say she would write to you?"

"That depends," said Gaston, his gaze going back to what was in front of him. "If her father is really bad, I will never hear anything from her again."

"Ooh…" sighed Maria, hand going up to her bottom lip almost instinctively at how bad that sounded. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," said the raven. "It's not your fault."

"I know," said the cat, bringing her hands to the level of her breasts and clasping them together. "But still, I hope things are better for you in the future. After all, you'll eventually find your special someone, right?"

"I hope so…" said the raven, eyes gazing at the sea once again such that his peripheral vision could pick up the beach in front of him.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, nothing being said between the two of them as they walked forwards.

Maria suddenly went stiff, and when Gaston stopped shortly afterwards, he looked at her, hazelnut eyes completely showing concern as he looked at his companion.

"Maria?" asked the raven.

"Do you smell that?" asked Maria.

"Smell—?" the raven began, before the smell of wood washed up on the shore came into his nostrils.

And with this smell of broken wood, the steely smell of blood followed in its wake.

"Oh, dear," said Gaston, looking back at the stretch of beach in front of him. "No wonder Kuranga let us out today."

Maria simply nodded before transforming, and almost instantly she was of, becoming nothing but a lavender blur running along the beach towards the source of the scent. Gaston also transformed, and a giant raven was then seen chasing his companion after the scent.

The two of them were barely surprised when they came upon the broken ship that lay at the shore, Maria and Gaston both transforming into their human states as they approached the remains of the ship.

"Dang, look at all that wood!" said Maria, shocked at the fact that there was wood everywhere. "I wonder how many ships have this much wood in them, you know?"

"Yeah," replied Gaston, already searching the various planks checking for survivors. "Just help me find some survivors, okay?"

"Sure, sure!" said Maria, instantly bending down and rummaging along the wood that lay discarded around the sands.

The two of them searched for a while, neither of them really having any success at searching through the ruins of the boat. They did have their smell to guide them to the source of the blood, but apparently the wood was literally burying him. After all, how was it possible that they still could not find the survivor after going through so many layers of wood?

Some progress was finally made when Maria lifted a plank that was close to the ship's hull, however. When she did, she caught sight of a peach hand poking out from under the wreckage.

"Gaston, I think I found something!" shouted the cat laguz, bending down and inspecting the hand. Thankfully, signs of life were still in the hand. "I think that this one's alive!"

"Gotcha!" shouted the raven, dropping the plank he had just picked up and running by Maria's side.

When they removed the planks, they slowly uncovered a man laying down among the hull, a small plank embedded in his side as he lay in almost peaceful sleep. The steady rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive, however, but in desperate need of medical attention.

"Well, here we are," said Gaston. "Did you find anybody else?"

"I don't think so…" said Maria.

"Then we get this one back to the village," said the raven, taking the figure's shoulders in his arms. "And don't forget that we don't move the plank in his side until we get him to the village, okay? We don't want to worsen the bleeding, if you know what I mean."

"Should we get his stuff later?" asked the cat, having just noticed a light gleam from beneath one of the planks.

"Yes," replied Gaston. "For now, let's get him out of here. Take his legs, will you?"

"Sure, sure," said Maria, taking a hold of the stranger's legs and hoisting him out of the boat and onto the sand. Afterwards, they made a mad rush for the nearby village, being careful not to dislodge the plank in the man's side as they went.

* * *

When he came to again, he found himself in a warm bed.

Puzzled by this strange development, he moved around to find that the object that was once embedded in his side was no longer there. After shifting around some more, he found that a bandage had been wrapped around his torso, and that was all the confirmation he needed to know that somebody had found him.

Realizing this, the man sat up against the back of the bed, groaning lightly as he did so and rubbing his head with his hand, his fingers just intruding the cobalt hairs that rested on his head. He finally opened his eyes again to find himself in a simple hut, its walls made of bamboo poles that jutted out from the ground. Another look around revealed a window to the outside world.

The pain in his side still lingered, but it was not bad enough that the man was not able to stand up to walk over to the window and see where he was.

Just as he had stood up, however, the door that he had failed to notice opened slowly, followed by a somewhat uneasy silence. The man turned his head towards the door to find a cat laguz standing in the doorway, her lavender eyes scanning over the man's figure.

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly. "You're awake! Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry about whether you would wake up or not."

The man turned to face the woman so that his body faced her as well.

"So you must be the one who found me," replied the stranger. "Thanks. For saving my life."

"Oh, there's nothing to it, you know?" asked the woman, walking over to him as she waved her hand dismissively. It was then that he noticed the woman was holding a sword in her hands. "Is this yours?"

Asking this, she raised the sword to the level of his eyes, and indeed the man was able to tell it was his sword; it had the familiar orange hue on the blade that he had gotten used to over the years.

"Ah, yes it is," said the man, taking the sword from the woman. "Thank you. Did you find anybody else in the wreckage?"

The woman opened her mouth, but then hesitated, bringing her finger to her lips.

"Er…" she said. "I'm sorry. You're the only man we found in there."

"Are you certain?" asked the man.

"Yes," said Maria. "I would have smelled him otherwise, I'm sure."

"I see…" he said, sitting back down on the bed and looking down at the floor.

The cat laguz felt bad, and so he sat down on the bed next to the man she had rescued earlier.

"Was there a friend of yours on that boat?" asked the woman.

"Yes," replied the man. "I hope he is all right…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," said Maria. "Hey, you never know what people can go through before finally meeting each other, yes?"

"That is true," he said. "I think you're right. Thanks."

"Nothing to it," said the woman, standing up and walking towards the door. "I need to go talk to some people now; quite a few people want to know who you are. My name's Maria, by the way."

"All right, Maria," replied the man. "I'm Ike."

"Okay, Ike," said Maria, opening the door to the hut. "If there's anything else you need, you know who to talk to, right?"

Ike nodded his head in response.

"Great!" said the cat laguz. "I'll see you later!"

"Goodbye," said Ike, nodding his head in appreciation.

After this, Maria waved a goodbye for two seconds before she left the hut, closing the door behind her as she went.

* * *

"Are you ready to look around?"

"Whenever you are!"

"Then come out! We're ready for you!"

Ike stepped outside of the hut that he had been sitting in for two days, finding Gaston and Maria waiting outside. He had wanted to tour Maria's village, and finally he had a chance to do so.

"So, where do we begin?" asked Ike.

"Well, we live by the sea, as you can tell," said Gaston, showing Ike the sand that served as the ground. "We're all fine here."

"I can imagine," replied the mercenary. "It really is quite beautiful here."

"Thanks," said Maria, walking from beneath the shade of the hut. "Anyways, let's show you around, shall we?"

Ike nodded, and then the three of them walked out from under the hut, coming to stop at the circle of huts and tents surrounding a rather prominent coconut tree. The scene that greeted him was rather friendly; some little laguz children were seen playing around the coconut tree

"Well, as you can see here, this is pretty much the village," said Maria. "We have it in a circle for religious reasons."

"Yeah," said Gaston. "Sharotal asks for circular arrangements in our living spaces."

"Sharotal?" asked Ike. "Your goddess, I suppose?"

"Yes, actually," replied the cat laguz. "How haven't you heard of her?"

"How can you tell I haven't heard of her?" asked the mercenary.

"Okay, we can banter about that later," said the raven laguz, walking forwards. "Anyways, we all know who we are. Would you want to know?"

"Not really," said Ike. "Except that I'm curious about the lady who's been chattering madly a little as of late; I haven't gotten much sleep from her chattering in the middle of the night."

"Oh, Marisol?" asked Gaston. "Don't worry about her. Some stuff happened…"

"Her baby got kidnapped, to be precise," said Maria plaintively.

"Maria!" scolded Gaston, turning on her with anger flaring in his amber orbs. "Why do you have to blurt out everything?"

"Gaston, please, it's all right," said Ike soothingly. "I'm sorry that happened to her."

"I'll tell her you said that," said Maria. "It's so nice that you care about strangers."

"According to me, we all deserve the same respect," replied Ike. "We're all just people here."

"I think the same thing," said Gaston. "Anyways, we ought to get moving then. You've already seen the beach, I take it."

"Yes," said Ike.

"Well, there's really not much else to show after that…" replied Maria, her expression dropping a little in dismay.

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Ike. "We've only known each other for a few days, and yet I enjoy your company quite a bit."

"Thanks," said Gaston. "We're just trying to make you feel welcome."

"Which you are," said Maria. "Anyways, the village seer wants to see you soon."

"All right," said the mercenary. "Tell him I will see him whenever he wants to."

"All right," said Maria. "Are you going back to the hut?"

"Yes," said Ike. "I hope to see more of you two tomorrow."

"You certainly will," replied Gaston. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye," replied Ike simply.

The mercenary then walked back to his tent on his own, a smile on his face over the fact that he had friends in a strange land that he could depend upon.

* * *

It was the sixth day after Ike had washed ashore that he found himself sitting in the tent of the seer.

In front of him was the rather imposing frame of the village seer, who was a dragon laguz by the name of Kuranga. Long jet black hair tumbled around his face in curls, his scarlet eyes adding a somewhat unsettling effect to the seer's face that the black streaks were already giving. He sat in a somewhat primitive stance in front of the mercenary, long grey robes coming to rest on the sand beneath them. Ike just looked at Kuranga as he knelt on the sand, not knowing what to expect.

For a while, neither of them spoke, lending itself to the tense atmosphere that Ike was not really able to handle for a short period of time.

Finally, though, the seer cleared his throat.

"So you are the man that Maria and Gaston found in the wreckage the other day," began Kuranga plainly.

"Yes," replied Ike in kind. "They said you wanted to see me."

"I did," said the dragon. "I can see a lot in your aura right now, you know."

"Aura?" asked the mercenary, his brow furrowing in confusion. "What is that?"

"An aura is that which allows me to know everything and nothing about you at the same time," replied Kuranga. "I can see a very noble character emanating from you, sir."

"Well, some things happened, if you must know," said Ike. "But before I say anything else, tell me something; where the hell am I?"

If Kuranga was shocked by Ike's language, he certainly did not show it. Instead, he simply shifted slightly in his position and looked back at the mercenary, concentrating on the space around him for a few seconds.

"So I take it you are not from Greljedo, then," said Kuranga. "Well, you are on an entirely different continent, sir. I will try to tell you more about the land as we go."

"I see…" said Ike. "Also, nobody seems to mind I'm a beorc. Where I come from, people would go crazy if they saw you. I would like an explanation for this."

"It is not so uncommon for us to treat a stranger as we would a friend here," replied the dragon, his eyes betraying some slight confusion. "And we especially do not care about race most of the time. I take it race was a big problem where you come from?"

"You have no idea," replied the mercenary, chuckling as he finished saying it. "We've been fighting race wars for seven hundred years."

"Pity," replied Kuranga. "We here have never had to worry about a race war. Anyways, from you I also detect an aura that you will go on to do some incredible deeds."

"As in…?" asked Ike, sapphire orbs shining a little in confusion.

"The tides of war draw ever closer," said Kuranga. "So much is going on. And yet in you, I find the solution to this war. You have great things to get done."

"So I have to go on a quest?" asked Ike.

"Yes," replied the seer. "Do you have a problem with this?"

"Not at all," said the mercenary. "But who am I going with?"

"Being that I am the one who can read your aura, I will be going with you," stated Kuranga. "If you wish, you may bring somebody else from here that you have met."

Ike stared at the canvas of the tent, thinking who in the village would want to come with him. After a few seconds, he figured out who he wanted to bring along as well.

"I do wish to do so, actually," said Ike. "Should I tell them now?"

"Of course," said Kuranga. "You are dismissed until tomorrow. I do not have anything else to talk about with you for the moment."

"Thank you, sir," said the mercenary, bowing his head respectfully and standing up. He then walked out of the tent and into the village, walking towards the hut that he had been staying in for so long a time.

* * *

Ike stood at the edge of the village, Maria and Gaston standing by his side with Kuranga slinging all of the necessary supplies over his shoulders.

The group had decided to set out very early in the morning as to avoid any eyes on them. They had of course informed the village beforehand that they would be leaving that very day, but they also knew they had to avoid as many delays as they possibly could to meet their destiny. They had paused at the point of the village where the circle broke to the north-west to get one last look at their beloved village.

The four of them stood there for a while, taking in the sight of the village being bathed in the light of the stars in silence. Maria was fighting back the urge to shed some tears, as was evident with her lithe body quivering the way it was. Gaston looked back, with only a marginal regret that he did not leave the village sooner. Kuranga simply looked forward, crimson eyes staring at the village blankly.

Finally, Ike turned to walk away from the village.

"Are you ready?" he asked them, still facing Maria.

The three of them turned to him and nodded.

"Then let's go," said the mercenary.

All heads turned away from the village, and thus the group set off towards the unknown, wondering what destiny had in store for them as they walked.


	2. Chapter 2: Doubt

Hello, everybody! Here I am, with the next part of the chapter.

So on the bold/italics part at the beginning; as I was typing this down, I felt the evil narrator from Radiant Dawn saying stuff in my head about Greljedo, so I felt obliged to put one of those things in. I can feel it beginning to bug me for the remainder of the fic, too. Halp!

Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy, and when I come back expect me to flash a diploma in your face! I'm graduating today!

* * *

**_The continent of Greljedo is a majestic landmark of how wars can be avoided for a very long time. Protected by the goddess Sharotal, Greljedo has prospered in peace where many nations in the world have failed to do so._**

_**On the north-western corner of the continent is found the beorc nation of Gardelia, ruled by the fair Queen Andrea and her brother, King Marco. Here, dragons, ravens, and cats work the land, the small population of beorc completing the full integration of Gardelian society.**_

_**Bordering it to the west and taking the northern end of the continent is the country of Jargon, which is commanded by Regent Harold and his trusty Pegasus knights. Beorc alone populate the nation as it has had a small history of racial tensions between itself and its neighbors. Thankfully, over the years these tensions have never evolved into the terror of war.**_

_**Taking the south-west corner of the continent is the land of Galdor, which has had a prosperous rule under King Torzukel and his son, Prince Myriel. This is the home of the people bearing the mark of the brand, and immigrants from every country pour in every year.**_

_**In the north-east region of the continent, the theocracy of Tardal sits with its Emperor Goliath at the lead. Under the strong yet understanding rule of the lion kings, hawks and a small contingent of branded have made their homes in the harsh sandy dunes of the nation.**_

_**The south-most part of the continent is the land of the country of Forgerat, whose Council of Representatives does all of the ruling of the land. Here, tigers and a few cats roam the marshes freely and without very much attention to any of the other nations.**_

_**The south-east portion of the continent is held by the nation of Stobin, ruled by the determined hand of Chancellor Hargeld and the Prime Minister Cecily. Beorc and herons alike inhabit the plains of Stobin, the songs of the herons free to roam the winds that gently nudge the seas of grass underneath.**_

_**The peace in Greljedo is slowly crumbling under strong tensions taking hold of Jargon. Despite Regent Harold's attempts to placate the people, a long series of brutal murders taking hold of the nation is slowly directing the anger of the people at the neighboring Tardal. Regent Harold, fearing the worst for the peace of the continent, has asked Stobin and Forgerat to help defuse the conflict in his own home in case anything goes wrong. Forgerat stands by the troubled Regent, its Royal Guard on stand-by in case things get out of hand. However, Stobin's uneasy alliance with Tardal could be broken at the slightest provocation. Fearing that Goliath could turn on Stobin the minute they declared their will to help Jargon, Hargeld and Cecily have decreed a policy of neutrality.**_

_**It is in the very north-west-most corner of Gardelia that Ike and his friends begin their journey. As they sojourn across the vast rainforests of the nation, Kuranga's mind is filled with wonder as to how the peace could reduce itself to being shattered at the batting of an eyelid…**_

Chapter 2: Doubts

The rainforests of Gardelia were really annoying. At least, that was what was going through Ike's head as he trudged his way through the unbearable combination of heat and humidity.

Even the path was a bad place to travel on, and it only got worse as the group passed the immeasurably tall trees. Ike was suffering in the heat, the humidity causing the sweat to stick to his face and giving him no form of relief other than to wipe his face with a leaf. But even then, the sweat returned in a matter of seconds to make his life miserable.

And as luck would have it, the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

Ike groaned in discomfort as his group trudged on, Ragnell perched on his shoulder.

Sensing his discomfort, the rest of the group slowed down enough for Ike to be able to catch up. Most of them did not really think that it was very serious, so they kept on walking and trying to ignore the poor mercenary's discomfort as much as possible. However, eventually Maria was unable to stand it. She knew something was wrong, so she slowed down a little so that she was walking next to Ike.

"I guess you're not used to this, are you?" asked the cat laguz.

Ike turned his eyes to gaze at the cat laguz, his sapphire orbs meeting her lavender eyes and noticing a hint of concern ridden in there somewhere.

"No," said Ike. "I mean, I am used to a forest environment, but this? I've never seen a forest quite like this."

"It's a bit of a strange forest, actually," replied Maria, gaze turning towards the leaves that were visible at the top of the trees. "These forests are wet all year round, they're hot, and there are a lot of plants in here. I mean, even for a forest, this is pretty strange. And yet, we're used to it, I guess. You don't have these back home, do you?"

"No," the mercenary replied sternly. "We have forests, but not these kinds of forest."

"I see," said the cat laguz, her head turning back to Ike. "You know, I'm sure all of the people back where you come from miss you."

"You have no idea," said Ike. "I know too many people over there. They probably miss my presence more than anything, though."

"Presence?" asked Maria, her head turning sharply at Ike's audacity at voicing such a thought. "What do you mean, presence? Don't tell me you were a bastard to the people back home!"

"Actually, no," replied Ike. "It's exactly the opposite; people loved me where I came from. I think I need to get away from it, though; I've done too much there, and I think I can do some good for some other lands."

"A bit selfish, but okay," said Maria. "What sort of things did you do back in your home?"

"I'd rather not talk about it now," said the mercenary, his mind having been taken completely off of the heat and humidity at hand. "It's a very long story."

"Well, it's a long journey to Alexandra," the cat laguz replied, wondering if Gaston and Kuranga were just ignoring them or if they had been secretly tuning into their conversation the way they would if Maria was talking to somebody. "I'm sure you'll have time to tell the entire story by then."

"Still, I don't think I should just yet," said Ike. "If anything happens, I'll explain to the best of my abilities."

"Well, okay," sighed Maria, defeated. "But I will hound the information out eventually."

"You never can tell," said Ike. "I might just give it to your hounding willingly, but not at the moment."

"Aw, now the suspense is killing me!" whined Maria. "Kuranga! Help me out here!"

Silence. Gaston had since looked back at Maria, and then he looked back at the imposing figure of the seer as he failed to say a word.

"Kuranga?" asked Ike, he and Maria running up to the two of them as Gaston and Kuranga stopped walking. "Is something wrong?"

Another silence. Kuranga slowly turned to face the group.

"It is quite puzzling to me," replied the seer slowly. "How can racial tensions rise up so suddenly? These murders just started two months ago, and yet Jargon is already ready to go to war with the laguz nations at a moment's notice."

"I'm sure it's been building up," replied Gaston. "Remember they've had those tensions for a long time."

"Yes, but still," the seer said. "It is quite puzzling to me how nine hundred years without a race war have done this to us."

"The tensions are always there," replied the mercenary. "They're bound to get to this point eventually."

"And how would you know that?" asked Maria, holding her hands at her hips and looking at him with the soft curves of her face contorted into a frown.

"Hey," said Gaston. "I said it myself. Eventually everything breaks."

"True," said Kuranga.

"You're not a very experienced seer, are you?" asked the mercenary.

"Why do you dare suggest such a thing?" asked the dragon. "I think a lot about some topics that bother my mind with small little details."

"Yes, but it doesn't mean you're the best," the mercenary replied.

"Guys, please," said Maria, walking between Ike and Kuranga. "Let's not argue now, okay? We've still got quite a ways to go before we get to Alexandra, so let's just get our things done and we can bicker all we want afterwards. Deal?"

"Sure," said Ike. "Let's go."

The party of four then proceeded to continue walking down the path, the grains of dirt sifting underneath their feet as they walked forward.

* * *

They were still walking through the same unbearable humidity and heat. However, this time the trees had grown enough that the canopy covered the path, and so Ike did not have to deal with the added problem of the sun bearing down on their figures.

Every so often, Maria or Gaston had broken off to talk to Ike, and for the mercenary, it was a refreshing break to have one of the laguz talk to him. He got to know them a little better than he already did, and he certainly did like the little bit of entertainment that they put into their speech, so the conversations were a welcome diversion. They were usually pretty short, though, so Ike always wanted more from them.

They so happened to be walking in silence when Maria stopped completely, one of her lavender ears twitching slightly.

Everybody noticed the cat stop, so they all stopped walking as well, looking at her with concern ridden on their faces.

"Maria, w—?" asked Gaston, before Maria violently waved a hand in his face.

"Quiet!" whispered Maria audibly. "Do you hear that?"

Ike wasn't sure he heard much of anything at first, but Gaston listened and nodded his head. Kuranga, by no means the one with the best hearing, simply looked at the group astonished.

And then, Ike was able to hear the sound of foliage rustling somewhere behind Kuranga. As soon as he heard it, the beorc looked a little behind the dragon to see some bushes rustling next to one of the trees.

Casually, the mercenary began to walk over to the bushes.

"Oh, gee," said Ike loudly. Maria moved to criticize Ike, but Kuranga silenced her with a hand. "I wonder if there's anybody hiding behind a bush somewhere. I don't think it would do me good to search in this bush, yes?"

By this time, he had arrived at the bush, which he then proceeded to point Ragnell at.

"You can come out now," said Ike.

Timidly, a small little cat boy popped out. Maria instantly let out a surprised yelp as she recognized the tribal painting covering the boy's almost-nude form. All over, the cat was painted in green tribal fare, and if not for the fact that there was a lion cloth around his waist, Ike was pretty sure that the cat laguz would have fainted from the shock.

"Ike, be careful!" said Maria. "It's one of the _tsotsis_!"

The cat spoke a moment too late, however, for then full-grown cats appeared from the trees behind the three laguz, and despite yells of protest, the six adults that had appeared had managed to capture the three of them, slapping wristbands onto their wrists to ensure that they would not transform in their predicament.

Nothing was said for a while, and then Ike turned to face the adults that had appeared from nowhere. Almost instantly, the little cat boy transformed, jumped over Ike's head, ran over to the rest of his group, and transformed back into his human form.

Ike shook his head.

"You know, you could have spared yourselves your lives," said Ike. "But if I have to be the last thing you see, then—"

The mercenary was interrupted by a bunch of catcalls coming from the _tsotsis_, and they yelled at him in a language that Ike was certainly not able to understand.

They kept the catcalls up for a period of seven minutes before he finally shook his head in anger, frustrated at the lack of cooperation he was getting from the natives in one sentence.

Finally, he was unable to take it anymore. Ike stepped forward, pointing Ragnell at them.

"All right, listen up!" shouted Ike, a determined set to his jaw and his brows furrowed into a frown. "If you don't shut up and release my friends this instant, I will cut you all down! Is that clear?"

The catcalls kept coming for a good minute or two, however. Finally, Ike shook his head.

_Oh well_, he thought. _They asked for it._

He started by tossing Ragnell into the air. The catcalls stopped at this point, and as the blade flew higher and higher, the mercenary jumped up, grabbing the blade as it fell and performing a front flip before landing back on the ground. One of the _tsotsis_ let out a scream of pain as Ragnell sliced through him, effectively robbing him of his left arm and leg, causing him to both fall to the ground and to let go of Maria.

Almost instantly afterwards, all of the _tsotsis_ except for the newly injured one transformed, letting go of their targets as they did. As Maria immediately began to find a way to get the wrist strap off of her wrist, the cats began to lunge at Ike.

The mercenary remained unfazed by the fact that the cats were literally jumping at him and missing him, so he managed to dodge every single lunge like it was an art. Whenever the mercenary saw an opportunity to attack, he pressed it, attacking with a bunch of slashes that the cats always tended to dodge. However, Ike noticed the tension in his opponents' muscles whenever they stood still, so he took it as a sign that they could be caught off guard by the slightest diversion. He was certain Maria would provide the diversion necessary to fight them, so he made a half-hearted attempt to do so.

As Gaston and Kuranga were both frantically trying to get the wrist strap off of their wrists to help Ike, Maria finally managed to pry the wrist strap off of her. Tossing it onto the path, she then transformed into her cat form and joined the fray, literally tearing out the throat of her other captor in a violent dash forwards.

The _tsotsis_ attention was diverted for a few seconds, and that was all that the mercenary needed to take care of them. Almost instantly, Ike had stabbed one of the cats in the face, the blood gushing out and staining the path as the mercenary then made a short leap into the air. The mercenary directed his blade into a slash, effectively cutting one of the _tsotsis_ in half.

He then slashed at a _tsotsi_ that just so happened to be standing there ogling at what was going on, killing it almost the instant the blade made contact. Ike then heard a whoosh of wind as another cat gained up on speed behind him. He moved to jump up, but then a loud growl and the sight of the only remaining _tsotsi_ being discarded had told him that Maria would take care of the rest.

Ike's attention was then directed to the wounded _tsotsi_ in front of him as the little cat boy gripped him with a death vice.

The mercenary walked up to the little boy, who shook in fright as Ike approached. The beorc was able to tell how scared the little boy was in thinking that his end was nigh.

As soon as Ike stood in front of them, he paused for a few seconds, pondering how to tell the little boy what he was going to do with him.

Then he pointed at the portion of rainforest directly behind him.

"Go," said Ike. "And tell the rest of your people that if they interfere with us, I will cut them up just like I did to these guys. Okay? Go. You're free."

The little tsotsi boy instantly transformed into his cat form, taking off into the forest as fast as his little legs could carry him the instant he had finished the transformation.

Ike looked after the little boy, and then turned his attention back to his comrades. Maria had just transformed and had just gotten the wrist strap off of Gaston and was working on Kuranga's wrist strap. Both Gaston and Kuranga sat rooted to their respective spots, eyes bulging at what they had just seen.

As soon as Maria got the wrist strap off of Kuranga's wrist, Ike took Ragnell to a nearby tree and wiped the blood off of it there.

"My goodness…" said Gaston.

The mercenary instantly turned his head towards the raven, his gaze confused at the amazement Gaston's voice betrayed.

"What?" he asked. "Is something up here?"

"It's just that I've never seen anybody take such a huge sword and use it like that!" shouted Gaston, jumping up with his face betraying amazement. "Where did you learn to use a sword like that?"

"My father taught me," replied Ike, walking back up to the group and extending his hand to Kuranga, who took it in his amazed state.

"Don't be silly!" said Maria, laughing a little. "Anybody who can wield a sword like that was not taught by their fathers!"

"Still, he was my main teacher," replied the mercenary. "Anyways, let's get moving, shall we?"

"They will be back you know," said Kuranga. "Those _tsotsis_ are persistent."

"What is a _tsotsi_ anyway?" asked Ike.

"The _tsotsis_?" said Maria. "They're a group of natives that inhabit this forest. Some of them take to stealing from travelers that go throughout these rainforests. They probably will be back."

Ike looked down at one of the dead bodies that littered the area, and then looked back at his three companions.

"As it is, I think this is a fair enough warning to them," said Ike. "Let's go. Alexandra is still quite a ways off."

"Yeah," said Gaston. "And also, let's get out of here before these guys return with reinforcements."

The group instantly darted down the path, wanting to get to the city as quickly as possible.

* * *

After two days of travelling without further disturbance, the group finally came upon the spreading of the trees that indicated that the city was coming soon.

"Oh, finally!" said Maria, running forward with a wide smile. "We're here!"

"Alexandra?" asked Ike.

"Yes," said Kuranga. "The capitol of Gardelia lies ahead of us."

"Oh, I can't wait!" said Gaston. "Let's see it!"

Maria and Gaston both ran forwards, stopping a short while later.

"There it is!" shouted the cat laguz, pointing excitedly at something as Ike and Kuranga caught up to them. "It's Alexandra!"

Ike looked in the direction that Maria pointed at and was amazed at what he saw.

From the view garnered them by the sunset, the numerous white towers that were visible from the shallow valley below them stood majestically over a city with numerous walls. The very tips of the towers were adorned with gold, the light glinting off of this gold and adding to its shine. The walls also stood rather majestically around the city, and all of the smaller buildings that were visible seemed to be very affluent.

Ike was pretty sure that he never saw Sienne looking this good at all in all of his time on Tellius, so he was amazed by what he saw even more.

"Wow…" said the mercenary simply. "Such a grand city. It looks like it could serve no poor."

"Where there is light, there is shadow," replied Kuranga. "Sometimes the most affluent cities also have their problems."

"We'll see about that," said Gaston. "Let's go!"

And the four of them walked towards the city.


	3. Chapter 3: Developments

Hello, everybody! Here I am, yet again.

And I am now officially a high school graduate! H.W. tosses the hat into the air So I'm very happy right now.

Anyways, I've been on a ball with Legend here; I mean, I have so many ideas for this fic that it's just going to be one hell of a ride throughout the summer. Strap yourselves in; you're in for it.

So here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_**Ike and his friends worked their way through the treacherous rainforests of Gardelia to arrive at its capitol, Alexandra. The mercenary is puzzled by the system of hiring a guide to get them to Regent Harold in Jargon, as they have to get approval from the queen and king themselves. Gaston asserts that it is the way things have been and that nobody has complained about it for nine hundred years. Ike decides to go along with it, even though he is confused on why it has to be done such a way.**_

_**Once they arrive in Alexandra, they make their lodgings within the city, hoping to gain an audience with Queen Andrea and King Marco on this matter. Ike is very unsure about meeting the monarchs face to face, but Maria assures him that Andrea and Marco are kind rulers that will certainly grant them their wish of safe passage to Jargon.**_

_**Ike only hopes that Maria is correct as they wait to attain an audience with the monarchs of the nation.**_

Chapter 3: Developments

Ike fell back onto the bed, bouncing up slightly from the force of his fall as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you sure that they'll accept our audience?" asked the mercenary, addressing the only other person in the room.

"Of course," said Maria's voice. "I mean, we really want to help, right? So we go there and do things. Just don't get too full of yourself there, okay?"

"All right," said the mercenary.

The rooms they had managed to find in the city were rather cozy; however, they had to get two rooms with one bed per room. It was agreed that Maria and Ike would be staying in the same room, as well as Gaston and Kuranga in the other room. The rooms themselves were rather plain, with white paint sticking to the walls and a window looking over what little view of the place that the fourth floor was able to provide them with. It was still quite a view, however; the palace was seen majestically towering over the rest of the city.

"So what's the deal with you sleeping?" asked Ike.

"I just sleep with my clothes on," replied the cat laguz, sitting on her side of the bed. "You?"

"Same here," replied the mercenary. "Thank goodness. I would have felt extremely awkward having to sleep next to a naked lady."

"Hm…" hummed Maria. "Have you ever slept next to a naked lady before?"

"No," said Ike. "But I'm pretty sure it would be awkward. Plus, I barely know who you are, so that would be even more disturbing, don't you think?"

"Barely know me?" asked Maria, letting off a short little scoff as she tied her short lavender hair into a bun for her sleeping purposes. "I think we've talked quite a bit on the way here."

"True," said Ike. "But still, it takes a lifetime to know somebody well. I would know; my father had a lot of secrets that I didn't find out until he died."

"Oh," said the cat laguz, ears drooping a little as she turned to face her companion. "I'm sorry. They weren't terrible things, were they?"

"Oh, no," replied the mercenary. "There was one shocking revelation in there, but it's nothing that big now."

"Ah," said Maria as she pulled the bed sheets over her legs. "That makes sense, I guess. Would we have liked your father?"

"I'm sure you and Gaston would have liked him," replied Ike. "I'm very sure Kuranga would have a problem or two with him, though."

Maria let out a laugh after Ike said this, much to the mercenary's confusion.

"Believe me, Ike," replied the cat laguz, hands holding the slim body under her brown shirt as she laughed. "Kuranga finds something wrong about everybody sooner or later."

"It's how he is, isn't he?" asked Ike.

"I guess," chuckled Maria, finally lying down in the bed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," replied Ike, turning around so that he was facing away from his companion. Sleep found his tired body soon afterwards.

* * *

The next day, Ike and company found themselves going through the city attempting to get to the grand palace. What Kuranga had said earlier really came through to the group as they walked by; while the place really was very beautiful, there were a few contingents of homeless people sitting by all of the streets. Some laid taut on the ground in an eternal sleep, some were just huddled up to the walls of the buildings, and still others were sitting right at the curb, holding out their hands and asking for change.

"Dang…" commented Gaston as they walked by. "I didn't think the capitol city would be filled with this many people without a house."

"No kidding," replied Maria. "This is a bit scary…"

"I agree," said Ike as they continued to walk. "I've never seen such terrible conditions in my life. Aren't the king and queen doing anything about this?"

"It is not their fault," said Kuranga. "According to stories that I have heard, the tax collectors lie to them all the time."

"I see," said Ike.

"You know, what I don't get is that those guys have to do such things to keep their power," said Gaston. "Why, if when people find out about it they get kicked around a lot?"

"Power is corruptible," commented Kuranga. "I think Ike has seen plenty of it."

"I have," replied the mercenary as the amount of homeless people slowly diminished as they walked. "I think we're getting into the richer part of town."

"We are," replied Maria as they slowly walked into the same street, only this time they were the white symbols of power from before. However, this time the sun was hiding behind a thick blanket of dark clouds, so the gold did not shine as brilliantly as before.

"So the castle is nearby, right?" asked Ike.

"From here, it shouldn't be far," replied Kuranga.

"Oh, I hope so!" whined Maria. "It looks like it's going to rain now…"

"Maria, don't jinx it, please," said Gaston. "I don't want my wings to get wet…"

"And plus, we're almost there," said Ike, pointing at the tall tower just ahead of them. "Right?"

"Yes, that is the building," said Kuranga as the group walked into a square.

Right as they entered the square, though, the pelting of rain was heard. Not a moment afterwards, the water came down very quickly.

"Damn it, Maria!" shouted Gaston. "Why didn't you say it after we went into the palace?"

"Oh, quit your childish complaints and find somewhere to go!" shouted Kuranga.

The group looked around frantically for a place to take cover, Ike pointing at a building with a large stone canopy under which people were slowly congregating.

"Let's go over there!" shouted Ike.

The four of them turned to look at the canopy and ran towards its cover. When they were under the cover of the stone façade, there was quite a sizeable group of affluent people waiting under there as well. Gaston shook his wings as best as he could in the crowded space and shot a death glare at Maria.

"Damn it, Maria!" repeated Gaston.

"I didn't do anything!" retorted the poor cat laguz. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"Gaston, please," said Ike, coming to her defense. "We really shouldn't be shouting with all these nobles here."

"I'm sorry," said Gaston, shoulders drooping just a bit. "I just hate the rain is all it is."

"And he takes it out on me every time since I notice it's about to rain!" whined Maria.

"Hey, we can't really determine when it's going to rain, now, can we?" asked the mercenary.

"True," said Kuranga.

At this point, Maria's stomach growled loudly, and Ike, Gaston, and Kuranga all turned and stared.

"You forgot about breakfast this morning, didn't you?" asked Gaston.

"Yes," said Maria, her cheeks reddening slightly. "I was pressed for time…"

"Well, with this rain, we do have time to get something for you," said Kuranga.

"And get it wet in the process?" asked Ike, his hands on his hips. "Not really."

"True," said Maria. "Plus, there are still some people running around. But hey, what's that across the street?"

"Hey, you're right!" shouted Gaston. "It's somewhere to eat!"

"Okay," said Ike. "Never mind that then. Kuranga, care to do the honors?"

"Of course," said Kuranga.

The dragon ran out into the streets, but no sooner did he get four feet from the protective stone when he bumped into somebody awfully small. The force of the collision sent the both of them falling to the ground, the edges of Kuranga's black robes falling into the mud. But right then, Kuranga really did not care about the robes; after all, he could fix that later.

"Sorry," he quickly uttered, before jumping back up and running towards the café.

The person Kuranga bumped into had been knocked farther away, but one could clearly see a young man wearing rags. He stood up and picked up the remains of what appeared to be a piece of bread that had been trampled over carelessly.

"Dere's genteeltee fer yeh!" he shouted after Kuranga's retreating form, tossing what was left of the bread at the dragon to have it land two feet in front of his own figure. "Two weeks o' beggin' trod into de mad!"

He stormed off towards the canopy and sat down by a pillar next to Maria, his foot stretching back out into the rain and soaking the lower half of his left leg. From here, people were able to see his brown hair in all its glory with soot ruling supreme in a majority of the strands of hair. Emerald eyes shone brightly, but to match his eyes his skin was a mess of soot and ash, some of which had begun to roll down his face from the rain. Even though some of it had been washed away, though, it still made no noticeable difference to how dirty he obviously was. The fact that his skin was covered in soot and ash did not conceal how thin the poor man was; his gaunt figure betrayed a prolonged bout of hunger.

Maria took a brief glance at him before turning back to Ike and Gaston.

"Ouch," said Gaston. "I hope he's okay after that."

"Kuranga, or the guy he bumped into?" asked Ike.

"The guy he bumped into," replied the raven laguz. "Kuranga's pretty big like that."

"Well, te tell yeh de truth, Governor, I've been bumped into bee ever'body," replied the homeless teenager. "Yeh get used teh it after a whoyle, yeh do. Is de gentlemen you're friend?"

"Yes, actually," said Maria. "He went to get me something to eat."

"In dat case, 'e better get ready teh gimme some!" said the stranger. "'E better, since 'e trod over me lunch. Two weeks o' beggin', only teh get it trod into de mad."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," replied Maria. "You can have some of it if you want."

"Maria, are you sure it's a good idea to give stuff away to guys that speak like that?" asked Gaston.

"Garn!" was the teenager's reply.

"Gaston, please," said Ike, shaking his head. "He obviously hasn't eaten for quite some time. Two weeks, did you say?"

"Yep, Governor," replied the homeless person.

"I don't see that there," replied Gaston.

"Oh, shut up already!" moaned Maria in an agitated tone of voice, turning to face Gaston in her agitation. "He's a freakin' stick, and you're keeping me from helping him here?" She turned to face the boy again. "You can have a larger share of my food if you want."

"Dank yeh, mu'um," replied the boy. "It's so 'ard teh see people like yeouh walkin' around dese parts dese days."

"Thanks," said Maria, turning to the boy and smiling. "I'm only doing what people should do around here…"

"I hope this rain stops soon," said Ike. "I think it might make our lives easier."

"It's raining harder now…" added Gaston. "Oh, why did my wings have to get wet?

"Well, if it be rainin' 'arder, it usuelly means it's nearleh over," replied the homeless person. "Cheer ep, Governor. People like yehrself'll beh fine, I'm sure."

At this, a short little chirp sounded from above. The homeless boy looked up and a fairly dilapidated smile graced his form as a female linnet bird flew from within the canopy.

"Dere yeh are!" he exclaimed joyfully as he held out a frail hand for the linnet bird to land on. "I've been wonderin' where yeh went!"

"Oh, so you have a finch as a companion?" asked Maria, head tilting to the side in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "Why don't you sell that? That should be able to feed you for a good month or two."

"I wuldn't never give 'er ep, I wuldn't," replied the boy. "Say 'ello to 'er, mu'um!"

"Hi!" said Maria, waving her hand. The bird chirped at her a little bit, Maria standing there and smiling like an idiot at the bird.

"Dey don't like it when yeh don't say novin teh ''Ow do yeh do?'" stated the homeless teenager bluntly.

"Ah," said Gaston, instantly getting the implications of what the boy was saying. "I see."

Ike shot a glance at Gaston, the raven laguz turning around and leaning towards his ear.

"He's got the mark of the brand," the raven whispered. "Sometimes those people can speak with animals sharing traits of their laguz ancestry. Awesome, isn't it?"

Ike was bewildered beyond comprehension as to why Gaston thought that the mark of the brand was a great thing in his view, but he didn't have time to expound on it as the conversation between Maria and the homeless boy continued.

"So you've had Bonnie all your life?" asked Maria, indicating the linnet bird that had now been resting on the homeless boy's shoulder.

"Yep," he replied. "She's even good fer 'earin' people when yeh ain't supposed to, yeh know."

"As in eavesdropping?" asked Ike, rejoining the conversation.

"Hm," said Gaston. "That might be useful someday."

"Yeah…" said Ike, before he saw Kuranga's form coming back with a small container in the rain. When the dragon was under the safety of the stone, he huffed and puffed a little bit.

"It was very crowded in there," said the dragon. "But here it is."

"Thanks," said Maria, opening the container and sitting down next to the homeless boy. The cat laguz took out some of the food and handed it to the boy. "Here."

Kuranga said nothing, noting the auras surrounding the teenager to be auras of complete honesty.

The boy took the food from Maria's hand almost greedily, but without any hints of malice towards the cat.

"Dank yeh, mu'um," he said, before heartily biting down on the food.

Maria smiled contentedly as he watched the kind of difference she was making in his life.

"You're welcome," she said, before she herself began to eat.

A few minutes passed in silence as the two of them ate next to each other.

Finally, the homeless boy finished his food (rather quickly, too), and turned to them.

"So whad're yeh 'ere fer?" asked the boy.

"Oh, we're trying to gain an audience with the king and queen," said Ike. "We're trying to get to Jargon."

"Oh, dem blokes, eh?" asked the boy. "I dunno 'bout dat. Dey 'az been 'idin' be'ind deir walls lately, dey 'az. Bet if it's fer Jergon, mevinks dey will see yeh den."

"How do you know that?" asked Gaston.

In response, the boy pointed at the linnet bird that now stood contentedly eating the crumbs that laid about the boy's legs.

"Oh, right," said Gaston. "I forgot about that little bit."

"Whaddye goin' teh Jergon fer, anyways?" asked the boy.

"Important business," said Kuranga.

"We have to do some stuff over there," said Maria.

"Wit dem problems, I'm sure," said the boy. "If yeh want, I culd probably 'elp you out dere."

"With Bonnie?" asked Ike.

"Dere yeh go!" said the boy, smiling broadly and pointing at the mercenary. "An' I'm deh only one 'ere 'o kin talk to 'er, I am."

"So that, coupled with Kuranga, and we can know exactly what's going on!" said Gaston. "I love the sound of that!"

"But it is with—" began Kuranga.

"All right then, it's settled!" interrupted Maria nervously. "But we have to see the king and queen first. Once the rain stops, of course."

The linnet bird at the boy's legs chirped madly, the boy's eyebrows perking up as she chirped her heart away.

"What did she say?" asked Kuranga.

"Two dings," said the teenager. "Ferst, de rain stepped."

"What!?" cried Maria.

Everybody looked out to the road, and indeed people had begun moving about in the absence of rain.

"Oh, my!" said Ike. "Come on! We've gotta get moving!"

The mercenary held out his hand for the teenager, who took it. Ike then lifted the boy so that he was standing on the ground.

"And den, we ain't interduced each over yet," the boy continued.

"Oh, my goodness, you're right!" exclaimed Maria, bringing her hand up to her cheeks. "Here we are being nice to you, and we don't even know each other's names!"

"Don't yeh worry none, mu'um," replied the homeless boy. "Me name's Willie, it is."

"Ah," said Ike in response. "I'm Ike, the girl is Maria, the raven is Gaston, and the other man is Kuranga."

"Okay," said Willie. "Ike, Meria, Gestan, and Keranga. Roight?"

"I guess…" said Maria, wincing at his pronunciations of the word. "Now let's get to the palace."

"Wait!" said Gaston. "We need to do something else here."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Willie. "Dey ain't gonna let no boys like me in dere!"

"That's true," said Maria. "What about you wait for us right here?"

"Sounds fine wit' me, Meria," replied Willie. "See yeh all later!"

The boy went back to the pillar, preferring to sit underneath the canopy in case it rained again.

Ike, Maria, Gaston, and Kuranga all then walked down the road to the palace, which still shone as brightly as ever even with all of the rain it endured. They walked up to the fairly tall palace gates, which were both made of incredibly shiny silver and were flanked by two beorc guards with lances. As they approached the gates, the guards held the lances in a cross in front of them to stop them from entering.

"State your business!" shouted the guard on the right, blue helmet shifting a little from the speech.

"We seek a guide to Jargon," said Kuranga loudly.

The cross barring their way into the palace was lifted by the two guards.

"Very well," stated the guard on the left. "You may go in."

And as soon as this was said, the golden gates into the palace opened for the four of them.

* * *

"I am afraid I will have to refuse passage to Jargon."

These words left Queen Andrea's lips a few minutes after Ike and the company had presented their case to her. The dragon laguz hated to bar people from Jargon, but she felt it was the best action they could take at that time.

The five of them were standing in the throne room, the red carpet going up to the trademark thrones, of which there was two. One of them held Andrea, whose long silvery hair flowed down her shoulders and onto her cobalt robes. The other throne was empty, but Ike was pretty sure that it was where Marco would sit if he was present.

Almost instantly, everybody in Ike's group showed some kind of dismay, Maria looking shocked.

"What?" asked Maria, her eyes widening just a little in shock.

"It is a safety precaution," replied the laguz queen. "We do not want to make it look to Tardal or any of the other predominantly laguz nations that we are backing a siege of anti-laguz tensions. Forgerat has already fallen into that trap; Tardal is ready to announce war if this conflict escalates any further."

"But I'm sure that four guys who want to help out won't really do much for your reputation," said Gaston.

"It is our heritage that destroys your message, however," replied Andrea. "And besides, how can laguz stem anti-laguz feelings? The beorc of Jargon must learn to calm their sentiments themselves."

"Not a very good way to end them, either," replied Kuranga. "They must be shown the error of their ways first."

"And even then, they do not listen," said Andrea, pale blue eyes turning to face the dragon. "I believe I cannot do such a thing. The peace in Greljedo is about to crumble, and I will not be the one to cause a war on the continent."

"Then you want to wait and see what happens?" asked Ike, the tone of his voice cold and uncompromising.

"And what do you know of politics?" asked Andrea, leaning forward in her throne, her face showing a certain kind of anger at Ike's uncompromising bluntness.

"Enough to know that this policy of neutrality you're taking is going to lead to problems one of these days," said Ike. "And I understand that Jargon is taking hold of racial ideas, but the Regent is not. If you don't stand by the Regent, there will be a problem."

"Sir, Ike, was it?" asked Andrea. "Your bluntness is appalling to no end."

"If you're implying that we're getting kicked out now, you've no right to do that if somebody is telling things as it is," replied the mercenary.

"You're right," stated the queen plainly. "This is why I am not kicking you out just yet. But let me tell you something; there are multiple solutions to this problem, and to be safe, I am taking the option that could help ease the tensions."

"By ignoring them?" asked Maria.

"We do not want to aggravate the state things are in now," said Andrea. "So until we are certain that the tensions have died down, nobody is going to Jargon."

"Can't Marco settle this for us?" asked Gaston. "Where is he anyway?"

"Marco…" said Andrea. "He went to a diplomatic mission in Jargon two weeks ago. He has not returned since, and I fear the worst for him. That is another reason why we must stay out of this; we cannot risk having both monarchs of a country dead without an heir to take over the throne."

"Logical, but it doesn't say anything will get done," replied Ike. "What if—?"

Ike did not get the rest of his idea out, for then, the door burst open and a raven laguz ran in there, panic ridden all over his eyes.

"My queen!" shouted the raven loudly. "My queen! Something terrible has happened!"

"What is it?" asked Andrea. "What is the matter?"

"It's in Jargon!" he shouted. "It's the Regent! He's been killed!"

Eyes widened in shock all over the throne room.

"Killed?" asked Maria.

"What happened?" asked Andrea, actually standing from her throne and taking a few quick steps forward.

The raven muttered some incoherent words before falling to the ground in his state of shock.

There was dead silence in the room for a few seconds. Finally, Kuranga approached the messenger, kneeling down next to the prostrate raven and staring intently at his auras.

"He is unwell," said the dragon. "Get him to the infirmary."

"Guard!" shouted Andrea. "Take the raven to the infirmary!"

Two guards came from the door, picked up the messenger, and carried him off into a door.

"Now, what happened?" asked Ike.

"According to what I saw in his auras, there was a coup in Jargon," said the dragon as he stood up. "Regent Harold was abducted by the leaders of the coup and executed in front of a cheering public."

"Executed?" asked Gaston.

"That's definitely not good," said Maria, her hand resting just over her heart.

"So now, the new leader in charge declared war on Tardal, then?" asked Andrea.

"Indeed," replied Kuranga.

"This is very bad…" said Ike.

"Oh, I was hoping to avoid this situation entirely," said Andrea. "But I have no choice. Sir Ike, do you have anybody who can send a message to Tardal?"

"What about me?" asked Gaston.

"A little dangerous," replied Andrea. "You could be seen and get shot down by those traitors."

"Then how about Willie's linnet bird?" asked Ike. "That can't be seen."

"That is a good idea," said Andrea. "Excuse me, please. I will be back in a moment."

The queen walked into an adjoining room, the four of them standing there in complete silence for a few minutes. After those few minutes, the queen walked back out, this time with a paper and a string.

"Might you kindly tie this message to the bird's leg and direct it for Tardal?" asked Andrea.

"What's in the message?" asked Maria.

"We of Gardelia will be joining Tardal in this conflict," said Andrea. "If Hargeld and Cecily of Stobin comply and if Forgerat changes their allegiance, we can surround them and win with very little bloodshed."

"Ah," said Ike. "But what about Galdor?"

"Galdor is not one to join in such a conflict," replied Andrea. "Also, I will send a raven messenger to a general who lives by the border. Sir Ike, I shall ask you to meet up with him in the city of Jericho."

"Jericho?" asked Gaston, eyes widening in amazement. "You mean, that place?"

"Yes, Jericho," replied the queen, turning to face the raven.

"Oh my God! Yes!" The raven threw his arms in the air, triumphantly. "I'm going to the most beautiful city in Greljedo! Heck yes!"

"Uh, Gaston," said Maria, walking up to him and laying her hands on his shoulders. "I know it's Jericho we're talking about here, but could you please calm down?"

The raven stopped, amber eyes suddenly contracting in shame.

"Uh, okay…" he said, letting his arms down.

"So to Jericho, then?" asked Ike.

"Yes," replied Andrea. "You are dismissed."

"Thank you," said the mercenary.

He bowed very quickly, and then the four of them walked out of the room and back onto the street.

* * *

As soon as Ike was back on the street, he ran to the verandah where they were hiding under during the rain. Much to his relief, Willie was still sitting there, and his eyes actually brightened upon seeing Ike and the group going up to him.

"Dere yeh are!" cried the boy, standing up joyfully. "Whet 'appened?"

"A lot of things," said Ike. "First of all, you are coming with us to Jericho."

"Jariko?" asked Willie. "Oh, I ain't never fit fer dat place, I ain't."

"But you're still coming with us," said Ike. "And also, your linnet bird has to send a message to Tardal."

"Tardal?" asked Willie, rearing back with a shocked expression. "Oh, she don't like goin' very far ferm 'ere, she—!"

Willie's linnet bird perched on the homeless boy's shoulder and started chirping a little.

"Whet's dat?" he asked, turning his head around as the bird chirped some more. "Oh relly?" Some more chirping came from the little bird. "Oh. Well, Bonnie 'ere says she don't mind dem long distances, she don't."

"Perfect," said Maria, walking up behind Ike. "Because she needs to deliver a message."

Gaston appeared behind the cat laguz and handed her a string. Maria walked up to the linnet bird, and taking a folded-up piece of paper from Ike, tied the paper to the string as firmly as she could. When she finished the knot, she winked at Willie.

"Dere yeh go," said Willie. "Now, git it over teh Terdal!"

Bonnie chirped once, and then it flew from the boy's shoulders and into the skies high above the world.

"Now, let's get going, shall we?" asked Gaston.

"Of course," said Ike. "You ready, Willie?"

"As I'll ever be, Governor!" exclaimed Willie, beaming as he did.

"Then let's go!" said Maria.

Kuranga had said nothing the entire time, but he still kept up with the rest of the group as they slowly filed out of Alexandra and back towards the rainforests of Gardelia.


	4. Chapter 4: Jericho

Hello, all. Here I am again with the next chapter in this series.

Now comes the first of the side stories I have planned; with this story, I hope to bash the opera _Cosi fan Tutte_ since I think it's the biggest display of masculine masochism in the face of the universe. I'm not kidding. (Plus, it's Mozart, who's the most overrated composer in the face of the planet.)

But anyways, you know the rest. Here's the chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_**With the assassination of Regent Harold and the subsequent declaration of war by the usurpers of the throne of Jargon, the peace on Greljedo has finally shattered.**_

_**Now, Tardal mobilizes against Jargon, gathering a once-dormant military force and training them as quickly as they are able to.**_

_**Gardelia, after staying silent on the matter between Jargon and Tardal, has joined forces with its fellow laguz nation to help bring Jargon's new anti-laguz sentiments down.**_

_**Completing the quarantine is Forgerat, who switched allegiances after the death of the regent. All three of the chief laguz nations involved have now quarantined Jargon, and to the hopes of Andrea, Goliath, and the Council of Representatives, the war should not spread anywhere beyond the small plot of land that is Jargon.**_

_**Ike's group makes their way down to Jericho along a detour that Andrea sent him upon. It goes through a long stretch of rainforest, but the group's earlier encounter with the **_**tsotsis**_** guarantees them an uneventful journey.**_

_**Upon arriving at Jericho, a strange drama begins to unravel…**_

Chapter 4: Jericho

"Are we almost there?" asked Gaston. "I can't wait to get in there already!"

The raven had been complaining about how badly he wanted to be in Jericho for the past half hour, and it was getting on everybody's nerves. Ike ignored it, instead concentrating on how they had managed to clean all of the grime off of Willie's figure.

True, the clothes were still in rags, but at least Willie's somewhat hard peach skin had poked out of the soot and the ash. Ike, Maria, and Kuranga had set off on a campaign to make the simple Cockney boy somewhat presentable in Jericho, and they had washed him rigorously whenever they had stopped on the way to the grand city. Willie did not mind much (after all, it was by his request that they made him clean), and while he was still clothed in tattered, dirty clothes, at least the nobles would not cry murder if he touched them.

"Aw, quit complaynin', Governor!" shouted Willie.

"Seriously," said Maria. "Give it a rest."

Kuranga simply walked farther in the rainforest, the trees starting to disperse a little.

"I think we're getting closer now," said Ike. "Gaston, please remain calm as we walk."

The raven was quick to unintentionally disobey Ike's request, for he started getting jittery as they walked out of the rapidly dispersing trees.

Finally, they walked out far enough onto the path so that they were able to see a massive white wall guarding a few thatched rooftops.

"Are we there?" asked Gaston, his hands clenching into fists in hope.

"Yes," said Kuranga plainly. "This is it."

"Yes!" shouted the raven, preparing to jump up in glee. Before he was able to, though, Ike and Maria grabbed his wrists and held him down.

"Now what did we say about remaining calm?" asked Ike, Gaston fighting against his hold and losing.

"But its friggin' Jericho!" said Gaston boisterously. "How are you four remaining calm?"

"Because we're here on business, that's why," said Maria. "Now calm down."

"Okay, okay, fine," said Gaston in defeat. Upon saying this, Ike and Maria let go of his wrists.

A chirp sounded from above, and no sooner did anybody say anything than Bonnie flew into Willie's hand.

"Aw, dere yeh are!" he said jovially. "'Ow'd it go?"

Bonnie chirped merrily a few times.

"Oh, relly?" asked Willie. "Well, dat's good neuws, et any rate. We best get goin' 'ere, Bonnie."

The linnet bird let off a trill before flying to Willie's shoulder and perching there.

"Well, are we ready?" asked Maria. "Let's go!"

Ike's group walked up to the wall, which surprisingly had no gate at all. Thus, they walked into the city.

The group beheld a dazzling array of beauty. From the ground, one could see pristine stone buildings all over the place, thatched roofing being adorned with numerous bronze gargoyles and the sills having thousands of indescribably beautiful plants with flowers this color or that color. Ike was rather dazzled by the fact that such simplicity could amount to beauty, as were Maria and Willie. Gaston was beside himself with excitement, the difficulty of keeping it all in causing him to shake. Only Kuranga was alert to his surroundings as he walked forwards.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked the dragon. "Let us walk forwards."

This snapped basically everybody else out of whatever little reverie they were having to themselves, Gaston nearly flinching in his temporary loss of concentration.

The five of them then walked forwards into the middle of the bustling city, and as they approached the center, they found themselves trying to navigate through a rather large crowd of people.

Eventually, they went into the marketplace, Gaston eyeing a small little clothing stall in the corner of his eye. He turned his head, and beamed.

"Well, I think we solved Willie's clothing problem," said the raven, pointing at the stall. He got the rest of the group's attention, and they all looked at the stall.

"Well, I dink yer roight!" said the simple boy.

"So we're all going, yes?" asked Ike.

"Pretty much," said Maria coolly, observing how Gaston was already dragging the Cockney boy over to the stall.

"Then let's follow," said Ike. Kuranga, Ike, and Maria all navigated the crowd, rejoining Gaston and Willie a few meters in front of the shop.

However, just before they walked towards the stall, they found a group of individuals that looked to be bickering about some small matter. At first, they figured it was nothing, so they trudged forward towards the shop.

But as they walked forward, the bickering was becoming all to clear to them.

"Ah, but you are a jewel in the Gardelian skies! You're beautiful, and I love you dearly!"

"Get away! We do not service lecherous men!"

The bickering happened to be between two rather beautiful women behind the stall and the two men kneeling in front of it. The women were astoundingly beautiful, the one's chubbiness being balanced by the luscious black hair that went down to her torso, and the other's somewhat obscene height being offset by the sandy-blonde hair that shone in the sunlight. The two men on the other side of the table were attractive as well, but Ike was paying more attention to the ladies behind the counter, reasoning that they were the ones that they would buy the clothes from.

Ike walked up to the counter coolly, Willie trailing behind the mercenary and the three laguz in the group keeping some distance away from the bickering people.

"Oh, but how are we lecherous? We love you!" said one of the men kneeling before the table, shaking his short orange hair a little bit to get their attention.

"But we don't," said the chubby woman bluntly. "So shoo. Get away from here!"

"Um, excuse me?" asked Ike. "I'd like to—"

"Oh, please do not reject us so!" interrupted the other man kneeling in front of the two ladies. "You are the two most beautiful things in all of Greljedo. How can we not love you?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, get out of here!" shouted the blonde woman running back into the stall in her frustration. "Despina! Get these people away from here!"

"But, my ladies, I don't see how two men trying to woo you is such a bad thing," piped a short little woman that Ike had just noticed was standing there the entire time. "Go along with it."

"Um, excuse me!" exclaimed Ike, getting the attention of the tall blonde lady.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, running to their side of the table. "How may I help you on this fine day?"

"What?" shouted one of the wooers, standing up and stretching his arms wide in confusion. "Why do you go to them and not us?"

"Are these men bothering you, madam?" asked the mercenary before anything else was said.

"Are they ever!" replied the chubby woman. "I would like to get them away from me very much!"

"Okey, den!" said Willie plaintively as he walked so that Bonnie was facing the two wooers. "Bonnie, get 'em!" As he yelled this, he pointed at the two wooers deliriously.

The linnet bird flew over to the closer wooer, landing on his shoulder and pecking at the man's cheek really hard.

"Ow!" yelled the man, jumping up and effectively scaring Bonnie off of his shoulder. "Run away!"

The other suitor got up and the two of them stole off into the crowd, Bonnie taking to the skies and dipping down on them.

Ike, Maria, Gaston, and Kuranga were all staring at the two of them running off, the three ladies behind the counter staring more confusedly than the four of them were.

"Dere's anover use fer 'er," said Willie. "She goes right an' drives dem bloomin' goons away."

The Cockney boy let out a short little laugh afterwards.

"Um, right…" said the blonde woman behind the counter as she regained her composure. "I'm terribly sorry about that."

"Was there any reason for you to get mad at them?" asked Ike.

"Our lovers are off to war!" shouted the chubby woman. "Those heartless idiots are trying to woo us!"

"Ah," said Ike. "That makes sense. Anyways, we need clothes for this young gentleman over here."

"You mean that guttersnipe standing next to you?" asked the short woman.

"Despina!" rebuked the blonde woman, turning wildly towards the shorter woman. "First you try to help them woo us, and now you are saying that about a person wearing rags? Can't you see that he found some way of washing off? My goodness!"

"Um, is there a problem?" asked Ike. "Because if there is, I have no problems leaving to find some other person who's willing to give him clothes."

"Oh, no," said the chubby woman. "There's nothing wrong with his presence here. We service everybody, you know?"

"Yes," added the blonde woman, nodding her head. "Only problem is, Despina here dislikes that concept."

"Only because they don't know what size shirt they wear!" said the short woman loudly.

"That's what the stupid tape measure is for, you hard-headed ignoramus!" shouted the blonde woman, turning at the short woman wildly. "Get the tape measure!"

"Yes, madam Fiordiligi…" squeaked the short lady before retreating behind a door and closing after her.

"My god," said Gaston, who, along with Kuranga and Maria, had walked up to the stall during the yelling between the blonde woman and the short woman. "Are you two always bickering like that?"

"Pretty much, yes," said the chubby woman. "I'm sorry about that."

"That's okay," said Maria. "I hope everything is well in the future."

"Trust me, it never normally is," said the blonde woman, emerald orbs rolling skyward. "By the way, I am Fiordiligi, and this is my sister Dorabella. And the maid is Despina, but she will be back with the tape measure in a moment, I am sure.

"'Ello!" said Willie happily.

The short woman came back out again with a spool of tape measure.

"Here you are, Fiordiligi," she said.

"Thank you, Despina," replied Fiordiligi, taking the tape measure from her hand and walking to Willie. "Now, I need you to hold your arms up for me, okay?"

"Okey, mu'um," said the Cockney boy, doing as he was told.

The woman then set to work on him, first wrapping the tape measure around his waist.

"Hm," she said. "Waist is around 28, Dorabella."

The chubby woman nodded, jotting notes down on a small sheet of paper as Fiordiligi unwrapped the tape measure from his waist and measured his legs.

"Legs are 30."

Dorabella jotted more notes down as Fiordiligi then measured the height of Willie's torso.

"Torso is somewhere between a medium and a large."

"We'll give him a large then," said Dorabella. "Okay, now, what color would you like?"

"I relly don't care novin' fer coler, mu'um," replied Willie.

"Okay, then, here you go," said Dorabella, pulling a green shirt and a set of black pants out from somewhere within the piles of clothes that lay on the table and handing them to the boy. "That will be 60 gold."

"60 Gold?" asked Maria, jumping up in shock.

"That cheap?" asked Ike. "How do you make any money?"

"Law of demand," replied Fiordiligi. "The smaller the prices, the more that people flock over here to buy them. That's the secret to success in the market."

"Ah," said Ike, pulling out the group's purse and producing sixty gold coins. "Here you go."

"Thank you, sir," said Fiordiligi.

"I 'ope dem suitors don't go boverin' you agin," said Willie. "If dey do, let me no, 'kay?"

"Um, sure…" said Despina uncertainly.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," said Fiordiligi. "Have a nice day!"

"Goodbye," said Ike. "Oh, do you know anywhere where we can stay the night?"

"Oh, of course," said Despina. "Fiordiligi, permission to show them somewhere to stay, please."

"Permission granted," said the tall woman.

"Thank you," said the maid, walking from behind the stall. "This way, please."

The maid directed the group away from the clothing shop, and up to a rather wide stone building with wooden doors.

"Here you are," said Despina. "I better get going now. If the clothes don't fit, which I doubt, then feel free to stop by the stall again."

"Thank you," said Maria.

The maid retreated into the crowd.

"Well, shall we get our lodgings settled?" asked Kuranga.

"Of course," replied Ike, looking at the doors. "That was a weird episode we had over there, eh?"

"You're telling me," said Gaston as the group walked towards the doors. "Let's hope it doesn't get out of hand here."

"So how far away is the regiment from here?" asked Ike as he opened the doors and they walked into the inn.

"I would say at least three days," said Kuranga. "Which means that we have two days that we can use to look around the city."

"Great!" said Gaston. "I want to see the entire city!"

"We'll get to it, I'm sure," said Maria as they approached a rather short man behind a counter.

"Yep, we will, Governor," added Willie. "Bet somevin' tells me we'll see dose peepel agin…"

Nobody really paid attention to the boy's comment as Ike got the attention of the man behind the counter and asked for the rooms that they would rest in for the next two nights.

* * *

Gaston was up and ready at the lobby with Willie and Kuranga by the time Ike and Maria had headed down there. When Ike had gotten there, Willie did not hesitate to strike a pose in front of them.

"Well, whad'ye dink?" he asked, showing the long sleeved green shirt and the brown pants they had bought the day before. He looked rather attractive in these clothes, so Ike shrugged.

"They look good," said Ike. "We could definitely let you around here in that kind of clothing."

"Yep!" said Maria. "Now, let's go see this place, shall we?"

"Lets," said Gaston.

The five of them then stepped out of the inn and began walking around. They had started walking down the road to the market place when a thought occurred to Willie.

"Yeh no somevin'?" asked Willie. "I dink we culd see dem ladies at de clothes stall and tell dem 'ow great deir cloes are."

"Really?" asked Maria, facing the boy as she talked. "I was kind of thinking the same thing myself, actually."

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Gaston. "Oh, did Bonnie come back last night?"

"Yeh beder believe she did, Governor," replied Willie. "She's a good girl, she is."

"Good, good," said Gaston. "So, where was that stall again?"

The group looked around, Ike's eyes resting on the familiar fabrics of the clothing stall.

"There it is," said Ike, walking towards it. Willie followed very closely behind, the three laguz trailing along as well.

Fiordiligi and Dorabella had been adding new clothing to the piles already there when Ike and Willie approached the stall. Fiordiligi had just laid down a pair of pants when she caught sight of Ike and Willie walking towards them.

"Oh, hello again!" said the blonde girl cheerfully, Dorabella turning her head and giving out an astonished gasp and then a smile as she ran forward. "Did they not fit?"

"Acterally, mu'um, I don't dink me cloes 'ave ever vit me better," replied Willie.

"Yeah," said Ike. "And apparently, he likes them."

"They do look good on him too," said Dorabella. "Somehow, I can tell what colors everybody looks good in."

"I noticed," said Gaston, walking forwards. "Did those men try to woo you again?"

"Yes," both ladies replied at the same time.

"Annoying, don't you think?" asked Maria. "I'd just slap every suitor in my way, you know?"

"Well, that is rather direct," said Fiordiligi. "I had to slap one of them, but only after excessive raunchiness on his part."

"Is Despina up and about?" asked Ike.

"Yes, but she is tending to housework and sewing clothes," replied Dorabella. "She does not come out again until after lunch."

"So you run the shop, she runs the house?" asked Ike.

"Essentially," said Fiordiligi. "I also tend to wounds in the house."

"Wounds?" asked Maria.

"So yeh 'eal peepel too, eh?" asked Willie.

"As a side job, yes," replied Fiordiligi. "It is not my main trade, however. Selling clothes has been and probably always will be my trade. What about the rest of you?"

"Former mercenary captain," said Ike.

"Really?" asked Fiordiligi. "What's the name of your company?"

"You wouldn't know my company," he replied. "They're the Greil Mercenaries."

Before anybody could expound, though, Dorabella turned, and angrily sighed.

"Oh, those men have come again!" moaned the chubby woman as the two men from the day before ran up to the stall.

But this time, an older man followed frantically behind them, face ridden with shock.

"No, no!" he shouted as he ran up to the stall. "Don't do it!"

"Yeah," said Maria, looking the two men who were right in front of the two ladies. "Don't you know when enou—?"

"Not like that!" screamed a suddenly terrified Fiordiligi.

"What point is there to living when the jewels we love don't love us back?" asked one of the men melodramatically. In response, Willie and Ike looked at each other with perplexed expressions as Maria rolled her lavender eyes towards the sky again.

"None!" shouted the other man, equally as melodramatically. "Let us take this poison we have in our hands."

It was then that Ike's group noticed that the two men held a pair of vials in their hands, and shock instantly came over their beings.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" shouted Gaston, breaking through between Ike and Willie, hands outstretched. "Wait! You don't—!"

But it was too late, for then the two men took the vials and drank of them.

A shocked silence pervaded not just the clothing stall, but the other stalls nearby as well. Slowly, the two men staggered forwards, falling onto the ground face-up.

"Oh my goodness," said Fiordiligi. "Despina! We need you!"

Almost immediately, the short maid walked outside.

"What is it, mis…?" Despina's sentence vanished into mid-air as she noticed the men's bodies lying down on the ground. "My goodness! What happened?"

"They took poison!" shouted Dorabella, walking around the table to check on the two men.

"Oh, no," said the maid.

"This is not the time to be gaping about how terrible it is," added Fiordiligi assertively. "Despina. Run upstairs, and find my Restore staff, will you? It should be in the closet."

"Of course, Miss Fiordiligi," said Despina. "Watch over them while I'm gone."

The blonde woman nodded as the maid ran back into the house, closing the door behind her.

Fiordiligi then went over and knelt next to the other man that was unattended.

"Oh, dear…" said Ike gravely.

"De dumbness o' seme peepel…" added Willie, shaking his head in disgust.

"Hey!" retorted the old man who had followed the two suitors to the stall. "They were my friends, you common idiot!"

"Hey!" yelled Maria. "Don't refer to Willie as an idiot! You're probably a bigger idiot for saying that and you know it!"

"Hold your tongue, woman," the old man said, pointing at her and speaking with a tone of voice that sent shivers down Ike's spine. "Or I _will_ see to it that it is cut off."

The poor cat laguz was speechless after this was said, so she hid behind Ike's cape, only her eyes peeking out from behind him.

"And who might you be then?" asked Ike.

"Don Alfonso, dear sir," replied the old man, bowing down in respect.

"Hey!" retorted Gaston. "How come he gets the respect and the rest of us don't?"

Before Alfonso was able to reply, everybody's attention was diverted to the two ladies kneeling at the bodies of the young men. It was then that everybody noticed how the scarlet and orange hair of the two men seemed to complement their faces so perfectly. The one with the longer red hair had an almost angelic face, the orange haired one sleeping with just as serene an expression, short facial hair sticking out from the chin.

"My, so attractive…" said Dorabella.

"I know…" added Fiordiligi. "How could we have refused them before?"

Maria grunted in disgust, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand and shaking her head violently.

"Oh, Christ…" she muttered. "Could you make up your mind on whether you like those guys or not?"

"Maria, please understand," said Alfonso, stretching his arms out in an embrace of the air. "They just realized how attractive these guys are. Please do not ruin the moment."

"How am I ruining the moment?" she asked, coming out from behind Ike and waving her arms wide in the air. "They were just yelling at those same guys two seconds ago!"

"Maria, please," said Ike. "They just took poison. We don't need to add anything else to the list of things that have gone wrong today."

"Okay, fine!" pouted Maria.

At this moment, Despina came back from out of the house, carrying a somewhat ornate healing staff.

"Oh, good!" said Fiordiligi, standing up and taking the Restore staff from Despina. "Now, let me get to work!"

She stood over the two men, and shook her Restore staff over them. After just a small amount of shaking, the staff glowed, causing a strange white substance to come out of the two men's nostrils and into the staff. Finally, when the light dimmed, Fiordiligi stood up and admired her work.

"There," she said. "All better. They should be up and about in a few seconds."

"Dank goodness," said Willie, wiping some sweat off of his forehead.

"Yeah," said Gaston.

And surely enough, the two of them sat up on the ground, looking around bewilderedly.

"Where am I?" asked the man with the orange hair.

"Am I dead?" asked the man with the red hair.

"Naw, Governor," replied Willie. "Yer still livin', yeh are."

"But—?" replied one of the men before he turned and noticed Fiordiligi and Dorabella both standing there.

"Oh, our angels saved us…" said the two men at the same time.

"Indeed we have," said Dorabella. "We're sorry about ignoring you earlier."

"We would both like to give you the pleasure of our names," said Fiordiligi, leaning back down and whispering it into the ear of the red-head. Dorabella did the same to the man with the orange hair.

"Ah, Fiordiligi…" said the scarlet haired man. "Such a sweet name…"

"Dorabella…" said the orange haired man. "Such a wonderful name. Our names as well should be told to your ears…"

Maria was doggedly fighting back the urge to slap the two suitors for being overly poetic, but she somehow held still as the two prospective lovers whispered their names into their targets.

"Fernando," said Fiordiligi, sighing visibly. "Oh, how wonderful."

"Guillermo," said Dorabella, also sighing visibly. "Such a wonderful name."

"And now we shall ask for a kiss…" said the two suitors, leaning forwards.

But unfortunately, this line snapped the two women out of their somewhat entranced reverie, and they both stood up abruptly, faces assuming the same cross expression as before.

"A kiss?" the two sisters asked simultaneously. "Good heavens!"

At this point, Maria was unable to handle standing there watching these events unfold.

"Okay, you know what?" shouted Maria, hands held outstretched and her tail swishing around violently. "That does it! I want nothing to do with this melodrama! If any of you six want to see me after today, you have to do it alone, or so help me the goddess Sharotal I will rip you all to shreds! Screw you all, I'm going back to the inn!"

And the cat laguz proceeded to do just that, storming off into the crowd.

"Overreacting much?" asked Gaston.

"Naw!" retorted Willie. "I'm goin' beck, too!"

Willie followed in the same direction as Maria had run off to.

"W-wait!" shouted Gaston, disappearing into the crowd after the Cockney boy. "Hold on! We still haven't seen the city yet!"

Ike and Kuranga were the only ones left standing in front of the stall.

"Well, we will be back then," said Fernando nervously. "Until then, a kiss!"

Fernando and Guillermo both blew a kiss to Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and they disappeared into the crowd.

"Man, what a day…" said Ike.

"And in the midst of all this, nobody has acknowledged me," said Kuranga's voice from behind the mercenary.

"Agh!" said Ike, stumbling forward and catching himself on the stall. "Sorry, Kuranga."

"Anyways, we best get going," said Kuranga. "We need to talk to our friends."

"Of course," said Fiordiligi. "Good day, sirs."

"Good day," replied the dragon laguz, he and Ike disappearing into the crowd.

* * *

"Boy, Ike. Where do you think they are now?"

"I have no idea."

"I hope they're okay. I wouldn't want anything to happen to anybody after all that I did today."

"It's not your fault, Maria. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks Ike."

Maria walked back onto the bed, sitting next to the mercenary with her eyes watering over a little.

Ike and Kuranga had arrived back in the inn to find that Gaston and Willie never really did come back to the inn. Kuranga had volunteered to go find them, but the moon was shining over the rooftops and none of them had returned. So Ike and Maria had resorted to talking to each other all night.

The cat laguz simply stared outside before she looked back at Ike.

"You know, I was wondering about something," she began. "You mentioned that your mercenary company was the Greil Mercenaries…"

"Yes," said Ike.

"Was that your father's company?" asked Maria.

"Yes, it was," Ike said in reply. "I took command of it when he died. It was a rough time for me too; I barely had experience in leadership."

"I see," said Maria. "Why didn't you change the name of the company?"

"Didn't want to," said the mercenary, leaning back against one of the bedposts. "Even if I was forced to, I wouldn't change it. My father means a lot to me, even if he's dead."

"That's a nice attitude to have about a parent," said the cat. "Your father must have been great."

"He was," replied Ike simply.

"I wish I could have known that kind of love," added Maria. "I got it for most of my life, but then my parents died when I was maybe fourteen years old. Both of them."

"Really?" asked Ike. "I'm sorry to hear that. How did they die?"

"Well, not dead per se," replied Maria. "More like 'left the town, never to return' if you know what I mean."

"Oh," replied Ike. "I see. You're thinking the _tsotsis_ got them?"

"That's what we all think these days," said Maria. "And the _tsotsis_ don't exactly take prisoners."

"I see," said Ike. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Right about then, somebody began shouting lyrics outside, and Maria stiffened.

"Aw, no, it's one of those guys again!" she whined.

The shouting continued, and Ike noticed something about the words.

"Is he trying to give a serenade?" asked Ike.

"I think so," said the cat laguz as the two of them stood up and walked close to the window as the shouting continued.

"I'm sure that's not how you're supposed to sing," added Ike.

"Shh!" said Maria, laying a finger on his mouth and listening intently to the lyrics.

After a while, Maria perked up, smirking evilly as she looked outside.

"I am a hero, I'm here to save you from the very evil villain?" asked Maria, yelling her question out into the air. "More like 'I am the hero, who has-a just tripped over his own shoes.'"

Ike could not help but chuckle, his ears slowly picking up more shouting from various areas around the town.

"Hey, you!" shouted Ike, adding to the slowly rising furor of voices in the city. "I can sing better than that, and I sound like a duck when I sing!"

The cat laguz doubled over in laughter, gaining her composure again and leaning out of the window.

"And I sound like a pig when I sing, and I still do it better than you do!" shouted Maria.

The two of them doubled over in laughter, falling back onto the bed as they laughed. Soon after the shouting ended amidst all of the yelling either mocking or degrading the poor suitor, and eventually, the furor died down.

"Oh, boy…" said Ike, struggling to speak in the midst of his laughter.

"We all showed him, didn't we?" asked Maria, laughing harder than Ike was.

"Yes…" answered the mercenary as he finally started calming down.

Maria stopped laughing eventually, sitting up on the bed with a large smile still on her face.

Ike moved to say something about that smile, but then their door opened.

"We're back, Meria!"

The both of them looked at each other, more than glad to hear Willie's voice from the doorway. The two of them stood up and walked over to the doorway, where they found Gaston standing there as well.

"Oh, you two are back," said Ike. "Great!"

"Yeah," said the raven, stretching his wings. "I managed to convince Willie to see the city with me. We've been going around random spots."

"Very fun steff, Ike," said Willie. "Yeh should'a been dere!"

"Good to hear," replied Maria. "Now, I'm sure Kuranga has something to say to you two for running off like that, right?"

"Keranga?" asked Willie. "We ain't never seen 'im."

"What?" asked Ike.

"We never ran into Kuranga," said Gaston. "What, is—?"

And then, the thought hit Willie and Gaston like a very heavy weight had just slammed into their beings.

"Oh, no…" said Ike. "This is bad."

"This is bad indeed," said Gaston. "We need to go looking for him."

"Well, I'm sure he's fine," said Maria. "I mean, he normally goes off and meditates like that."

"Aw, Meria!" cried Willie exasperatedly. "Yeh know 'ow Alecksandreh was!"

"But it's Kuranga," asserted Maria. "He can hold off most foes. I mean, he's really tall, and really muscular behind all those robes. He'll be fine. If he doesn't show up in the middle of the night, we'll go looking for him tomorrow. How's that?"

"Sounds fine by me," said Gaston. "Ike? Willie?"

"I hope you're right, Maria," said the mercenary.

"Me too!" added Willie.

"So we're settled then," said Ike. "Let's go to bed now."

The two outside of the door nodded, and then they walked to their own room.

Ike closed the door behind them, and the two of them walked wordlessly back to the bed, both of them laying down in it. Sleep claimed Ike instantly, and shortly afterwards it claimed a secretly worried Maria as well.

* * *

Kuranga did not return that night. And he was doing a damn good job evading them the next day, too.

Willie cursed his ill luck as he and the rest of the group traversed the streets of Jericho for the dragon laguz. The group should have found him by then, but they still had absolutely no luck in finding him. They had tried everything. They had split up in the morning and regrouped outside of the inn. They had sent Bonnie to check the places people would never think to check. They asked the townspeople that went around the market.

But none of them knew where the dragon laguz had gone.

And there they were, outside of the inn, shaking their heads in their frustration.

"I'm telling you, Maria, this is really bad…" said Gaston. "People don't just vanish into thin air like that."

"I know!" replied the cat laguz, leaning against the stone walls and rubbing her temples. "What the hell happened here?"

"I den't no," said Willie. "Bet where do we go temorrow?"

"I don't know!" shouted Maria. "This is why it's a bad thing that we lost Kuranga!"

"Now we can't meet up with the brigade no matter how hard we try…" said Ike. "What do we do now…?"

A silence took hold of the group as they all took to their own minds, Willie leaning against the wooden post holding the upper floor of the inn up, Ike sitting on the ground not far from Willie, and Gaston and Maria both leaning against the wall of the stone house.

However, before long, the clattering of armor was heard by Maria's ears, and she looked over to see a man in heavy armor walking towards the inn. Noticing Maria's distraction, Ike stood up, Willie and Gaston both pushing away from the walls and walking towards him.

"Um, hello there," said the man nervously. "Would you happen to know a man named Ike?"

"Oh, Ike?" asked Maria.

"Here I am," said the mercenary, stepping forward.

"Oh, so you're Ike," said the armored man. "I come from the troops down south. I expected five of you. What a shame that I only find four here talking to me."

"One of us disappeared last night," replied Gaston. "We've been searching for him all day, and we haven't had any luck at all."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," replied the man in the armor. "Anyways, the general Byron of the Third Infantry Division of Gardelia wants to let you know that we camped outside of Jericho just now."

"Oh, relly?" asked Willie. "Where are yeh?"

"Just fifteen minutes south of here," replied the armored knight. "We'll be leaving tomorrow at around 8:30 in the morning, so if you want, I can arrange for somebody to come over here and pick you up."

"Oh, would you?" asked Ike. "That would be great!"

"Of course," said the armored man. "Be up and ready at around six then. Good day."

"Good day," replied Ike.

As the armored man walked off, the group looked at each other, smiling.

"Well, dat's great!" said Willie happily. "We ain't been so lucky 'round 'ere since we got 'ere!"

"You're telling me," said Maria. "Well, that solves the most immediate dilemma."

"True," said Ike. "I hope Kuranga is okay…"

"He should be," replied the raven. "He's been in tougher situations than this before. I'm sure he can get himself out of it without any problems."

Willie's attention was momentarily swiped, though, for then the Cockney boy noticed somebody behind Ike.

"Viordilegi?" he asked.

All of the heads turned to find Fiordiligi behind Ike. The woman was wearing a grey cloak that concealed her face from the public.

"Hello, sir," said Fiordiligi, removing the hood so that her blonde hair and green eyes could be seen. "Funny. I have seen you every day for the past three days and I still don't have the pleasure of your names."

"Oh!" said Maria. "Sorry about that. I'm Maria, the former mercenary captain is Ike, the raven is Gaston, and the guy wearing your clothes here is Willie."

"I thought there was a dragon with you?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Oh, Kuranga?" asked Gaston. "He disappeared last night."

"Oh, really?" asked the blonde woman.

"You better believe it," replied the mercenary. "We've been looking for him all day, and we still haven't found him."

"I'm sorry to hear about that," said Fiordiligi. "But I have some woes of my own."

"It's abut dem suters, ain't it?" asked Willie.

"Yes," the blonde replied. "Since the poison incident, the men have made moves on us. To help lighten the mood, Despina convinced us to treat it as a joke. And now, Dorabella's heart has been stolen!"

"Dorabella?" asked Gaston. "Her heart stolen by the suitors?"

"How terrible!" said Maria, lavender hair swishing about as she reeled back in a kind of shock.

"But it gets worse," added Fiordiligi. "I myself am falling in love. And by that, I do not mean the man that is in the barracks right now."

"Oh, dear…" said Ike. "And you were hoping we could help you out here?"

"Yes," said Fiordiligi.

"Well, if it's slapping them around a bit, I think they deserve more than that, don't you think?" asked Maria. "No; you're on your own there."

"Not slapping, Maria," rebuffed Fiordiligi. "I am a healer, and my lover is off to war. I had heard from an anonymous source that the army is close to Jericho. And I wanted to go over there. But I do not know how I can get there. Would you know anybody here that could help me?"

There was a rather short silence after the woman's plea. After a while, Willie brought his hands to his hips and tilted his head to the side.

"Yeh no, it's funney dat yeh ask dis now," said Willie. "'Cause we jes' vinished talkin' teh somebody about gettin' over to dem barracks, we was."

"You were?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Yes," replied Ike. "In fact, we could probably go together since you asked us about it."

"Oh, would you?" asked the blonde woman, tears beginning to gather at her bottom eyelid in joy.

"Of course," said Maria. "We'd be more than glad to give you that much. After all, it's the least we can do for those great clothes you gave Willie."

"Heck, we'll even hide you in the room of our inn if you want us to," added Gaston. "Now, possibly."

"Wait!" injected Willie. "Whet about dem staves she needs teh work dat magic on 'er frends?"

"Right here, Willie," added Fiordiligi, parting her cloak a little to reveal a heal staff tucked against her body.

"Oh," replied the Cockney boy. "Well, den."

"Of course you can come with us now," said Ike.

"Oh, I can't repay you enough for this," said Fiordiligi, her smile ever widening in joy. "You must show me to your rooms, quick!"

"Of course," said Ike, motioning towards the door. "Come."

The five of them walked back into the inn, Fiordiligi going first and Willie being the one to close the door behind them.

* * *

The group woke up early the next morning, all of them walking around the outside of the inn waiting for the escort to show up.

It was still dark outside, so they all stayed relatively close to the door, Ike holding a lamp and Fiordiligi standing there with her hood over her face. All of them looked attentively into the darkness, wondering when their escort would show up.

Finally, however, the same man that the group had met yesterday was seen approaching them in the twilight. Ike smiled, and walked forwards towards the man, the sun slowly beginning to eke out from behind the earth.

"Hello again," said the soldier. "Any luck finding your friend?"

"No," said Ike. "We did find another one who wants to come with us, however."

"Ah," said the soldier. "That is perfectly fine. So, are you guys ready for some action?"

"As we'll ever be," said Maria. "Let's go already!"

The armored man walked towards the town gates, turning his head to look at the group.

"This way, if you please," said the soldier.

The group stepped forwards, following the man to the barracks as the sun slowly rose over the majestic city.


	5. Chapter 5: The Plan

All right, here's the next chapter.

So as of today, I can drive! You know what that means, right?

Anyways, this chapter is mostly filler. Maybe one important point that alters the rest of the story, but it's kind of hard to find, so yeah. Also, character development. Fun.

You know the rest. Here's the chapter, and enjoy!

* * *

_**The detour through Jericho proved to do somewhat more harm than good, as Kuranga's sudden disappearance in the middle of the night attests to. However, this did not prevent Ike and his group from meeting up with General Byron's troops outside of the city.**_

_**After the two of them meet, they make their way for the border of Jargon. Their journey is uneventful for the most part, and without any interference the army makes their way towards the border.**_

_**Byron likes the setup they are in, saying it will be a very quick end to a very pointless war.**_

Chapter 5: The Plan

Fiordiligi clasped her hands to her heart, looking over the grassy plains with concern written on her face.

Her dear Guglielmo was not at the barracks when she arrived with Ike and the rest of the group. Neither was Dorabella's dear Ferrando. The poor girl had been puzzled by their lack of appearing at the barracks, but her faith held.

She would often spend the sunsets outside of the camp, looking out. Perhaps they had landed themselves in another division of the infantry instead. Perhaps they were part of a scout troop that would be back in a few days. There were a lot of excuses that poor Fiordiligi was thinking about.

But unfortunately for her, she was not sure any of them were correct anymore; General Byron had repeatedly stated that he knew nobody by the name of Guglielmo or Ferrando, the soldiers had all said that two men of the description Fiordiligi had given them did not match anybody they had met, and their names were not even in the list of people that had responded to the call of duty. The healer's heart was breaking over this, and so she stood out the nights outside of the group, looking out into the plains and praying that somehow, Guglielmo and Ferrando were not in any grave danger.

"Viordilegi?"

Willie's voice crept into her ears, and she really did enjoy that company very much.

The Cockney boy had been working wonders on Fiordiligi's morale; whenever she was down about the fact that Guglielmo was not at the barracks, Willie was always there. At first, Fiordiligi was a little reluctant to talk with him due to his social standing, but by then, the healer knew that she could not refuse Willie's help no matter how hard she tried since she would be guilt tripped about it later.

"Hello, Willie," said Fiordiligi. "I am just worried about them again."

The soft pit-pat of footsteps on grass was heard, and then Fiordiligi felt Willie's gaze on her back. She turned to find him standing there, his hands resting on his hips as he joined Fiordiligi in watching the sea of grass sway in the wind below them.

"Well, mu'um, I'm sure dey're foine, wherever dey are," said Willie. "I'm werried abut you, dough. Yeh've been keepin' teh yerself abut dem lovers o' yers and Dorebella. I 'ope it ain't gettin' teh be bad, mu'um."

"No," replied Fiordiligi. "I just hope they are all right wherever they are is all. I am not sure there is really anything to fret about there."

"Well, don't tell nobody abut it!" said the Cockney boy. "I'm sure it'll 'elp yeh out teh tell anybody abut it!"

"I think this is a battle I have to fight myself," replied the blonde. "It is me and my sister's lovers we are talking about here, after all. It is my business, so why would I tell anybody about that?"

"I gess ye got somevin' dere," said Willie, sighing a little. "Okey. But if anyvin' bovers yeh, feel free teh tell any of us. Loverly day, ain't it?"

"You can certainly say that again," replied Fiordiligi. "Such a serene scene. What a shame it is that it will be full of the life-blood of so many hundreds of people. I hope not too many people are killed."

"I 'ope so too, mu'um," said Willie.

"How is your magic training coming along?" asked Fiordiligi, still looking at the plains.

"Oh, I den't no anymore, mu'um," said the Cockney boy, waving his hand dismissively. "I just did a foireball, and it took me a right week teh lern it. An' dese blokes 'ere say I ain't even started. Oh, I'm gonna be a wimp, I am…"

"You'll get better eventually," replied the woman. "It is all a matter of practice. I used to be a terrible healer, but now my skill has improved with the constant practice I have put myself through. So keep practicing, and who knows? You might just become the greatest mage in all of Greljedo."

"Yeh really dink so?" asked Willie.

"Yes," replied Fiordiligi. "Keep at it, and I am sure you will be fine."

The Cockney boy said nothing, smiling and looking at Fiordiligi with that glitter deep within his jade emeralds.

"Well, we better head back to the camp," said Fiordiligi. "No doubt they are worried about us."

"After yeh, mu'um," said Willie, gesturing towards Fiordiligi that she should walk back to the camp.

"Thank you," said Fiordiligi.

The blonde walked first, the Cockney boy following closely behind as they walked back to the camp.

* * *

"Okay, everyone, listen up. I'm only going to say all of this once, so you better be listening!"

"Yes, sir."

General Byron's gaze averted from the war map to the people that were sitting around the table in the war room. Two lower-ranking officers sat on either side of him at the end of the table, watching his harsh hazelnut eyes scan everybody else in the room. The 'everybody else' in the room at that time consisted of Ike, Maria, Gaston, Willie, and Fiordiligi. All five of them knew they had to be informed about the game plan for some reason.

"All right, so according to reports from the other brigades that are camping outside of the Jargonese border, everybody is in place to storm the area," said the general. "So from this point, we will lead a ten-pronged march on the capitol, and we are to eradicate the enemies that get in our way.

"Now, the first and second division of infantry will lead six of the ten prongs. We will lead the remaining four.

"Sir Brendan," stated Byron, and the officer on his left stood up abruptly. "You will lead the march going along this end of the Cecilian River." Here, he pointed at a spot on the war map that was laid out before him. "You will meet up with Forgerat's east-most march, and after this you will storm the capitol of Jargon. You may gather your troops and be on your way as soon as this meeting is over."

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed the officer before sitting back down.

"Sir James," barked the commander again, and the officer on his right stood up abruptly in much the same manner as the first officer did. "You will lead the march closest to the second division's south-most march." Once again, Byron pointed at the map again, trailing a line on it as he spoke. "This will go along through a long stretch of plains which I am sure your men can handle. As you inch ever closer to the capitol of Jargon, the second divisions south-most march will join you, and from there you will storm the capitol. You may also gather your troops and be on your way as soon as this meeting is over."

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed the officer again before sitting back down, also in the same manner as the first officer.

"Sir Ike," barked Byron, and Ike immediately stood up, somewhat bewildered. True, he had been to many a war room meeting before, but he did not think that they could be this formal at all. "You and the other four people in your group will lead the march just north of Sir Brendan's march." Byron's hand again returned to the map, trailing yet another line just north of the line he had traced for the first officer. "Once you reach this area in the map, you should be able to merge with me, and from there the two of us will storm the capitol. Now, I understand that this map may be unfamiliar to you, so in that light I will be sending one of my best guides with you to make sure you are going the right way. You may gather your troops and be on your way as soon as this meeting is over."

"One question," said the mercenary, surprised when he got dirty stares.

"One question, _sir_," corrected Byron. "But I'll take that question anyways."

"Is our guide using magic to guide us?" asked Ike. "Sir?" he added after the second officer shot a dirty glance at him.

"Well, since he is Willie's magic teacher, yes," confirmed the general.

"That will be all, then," said Ike. "Thank you." The first officer shot a dirty glance at him. "Uh… Sir…"

"You're not used to addressing us as 'sir' in the war room, aren't you?" asked Byron.

"Where I come from, the war room wasn't this formal at all," replied the mercenary. "I'm sorry if it's causing any problems."

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Byron, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm sure sanctions can be made about that. Anyways, you know what to do, right?"

"Yes," said Ike, sitting down abruptly. When both of the officers shot Ike a dirty glare, Byron coughed loudly, diverting their attentions and effectively saving Ike the embarrassment of having omitted 'sir' from his sentence.

"So are we clear on what we need to do here?" asked Byron.

"Yes, sir!" reverberated throughout the room soon after.

"Then let us get to it," replied Byron. "This war room session is adjourned."

* * *

Ike bent down, Ragnell resting on his shoulders as he picked up the bag that stored his tent in it. The campsite was almost empty, and everybody in their respective places for the march, ready to begin on Byron's orders. Gaston and Maria stood right behind the commander, Willie and Fiordiligi standing a somewhat larger distance behind them, Bonnie chirping merrily on Willie's shoulder.

As soon as the mercenary rose, he motioned to the rest of the group.

"Well, guys, I think that's all," said Ike simply, walking towards the group that he was leading.

"Anything you'd like to tell us now?" asked Gaston as the remaining four people in the group walked behind him.

"Maybe," replied Ike. "It's probably just unfounded, though."

"What is it?" asked Maria.

"Uh, Willie?" asked the mercenary, stopping for a minute. "I know this might make communication hard, but could you send Bonnie back to Alexandra for me?"

"Whet fer?" asked the teenager. "It's ain't like it ain't in any trubble, yeh no."

"I know," said Ike. "But still, I get the feeling that if we didn't…"

"Okey, den," replied Willie. "'Elp yerself." Willie's head turned to face the linnet bird perched on his shoulder. "Bonnie, git beck teh Alecksandreh, will yeh?"

Bonnie chirped, and then the linnet bird flew off in the opposite direction.

"Well then, let us get moving, now, shall we?" asked Fiordiligi, gripping the staff in both of her hands. "And if anything happens, I am sure we'll find out about it later."

"Again, it's probably unfounded," repeated Ike. "But yes, let's go."

The five of them walked back towards the group, taking their places at the head of the section of troops they were supposed to command. Ike stood where he was, waiting for the cue that would start their march.

After a good ten minutes or so of waiting, Ike saw an orange flame streak across the sky. Seeing the cue, Ike cleared his throat, holding Ragnell up.

"Forward march!" he yelled.

The pounding of feet behind him signaled the start of the march, and so Ike and his friends walked forwards as well, Maria and Gaston standing on one side of him with Willie and Fiordiligi standing on the other side of him. The healer turned her head to face Ike.

"You know, you do sound awfully strange when you say 'forward march'," commented Fiordiligi.

"Normally, I'd say 'move out'," replied Ike. "Byron cautioned me against that, though."

"Okay," said Maria. "Makes sense."

Nothing else was said as the group marched forward, ready to meet any resistance that was in the way of their march on the capitol of Jargon.


	6. Chapter 6: The Unexpected

Hello, everybody. I'm back, with the next installment in this epic tale, as you've probably guessed.

If you guys are wondering, I actually posted my world map of Greljedo on the internet. If you want to, go see it at my DeviantArt account. If you guys search for me, it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Anyways, here we are. Enjoy! :D

* * *

_**Tardal insists that it is for the good of the war that each brigade split up, going past the three great lakes of Jargon and surrounding the people of the nation into its capitol, Florenjal. All of the nations agree to send a scattered march on the capitol.**_

_**Tardal, Forgerat, and Gardelia all send ten groups of people marching towards the capitol, some of the southern marches taking a boat on Jargon's great lakes during the course of the walk to the capitol in the hopes that they might catch every single unit of resistance. Tardal and Gardelia also send a force of ravens and hawks to go over the ocean north of Jargon to prevent the Jargonese navy from radiating onto the rest of the continent.**_

_**Ike's group, like so many that are also marching on the capitol, run into very little resistance as they near the capitol. For almost all of the groups, things are going very smoothly, and they feel the taking of the capitol will be a very easy and feasible goal.**_

_**To Ike, however, the picture is too perfect to be true, and as his group marches on with very little resistance he gets the idea that maybe the Jargon military expected them to be there…**_

Chapter 6: The Unexpected

Ike walked forward, the wariness in his sapphire orbs being ever prevalent as he pressed forward.

Maria had been awfully worried that Ike was getting too paranoid about the Jargon military lately; he had often voiced concerns that the three nations opposing Jargon were walking right into a trap due to the small amount of resistance they were encountering. Every time he mentioned this, the group would reassure him that everything was fine and that it would indeed be a short war.

However, Maria was also beginning to get that feeling as well, and she was often found playing with the lavender locks that capped her head whenever she thought about it. So in her wariness, she found herself drifting closer to Ike.

"Hi," began Maria, somewhat nervously.

"Are you getting that feeling too?" asked the mercenary, turning to face the cat laguz.

"Yes," said the cat simply. "I don't know what it is. We just aren't seeing that many people. Like they knew we were coming and fled somewhere."

"I think that we're finally coming across a problem here," said Ike. "I mean, look. We have to at least run into some resistance by now, right? And yet, we've only faced a company of bandits. How can you call that resistance?"

"It's like the people left to let the country take care of itself," said Maria. "I don't like this setup one bit."

"Neither do I." The two of them turned to find Fiordiligi and Willie walking next to them. "We sent Gaston to do some patrolling earlier this morning. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," said Ike. "He didn't find anything, did he?"

"Nope, Governor," replied Willie. "We made 'im go agin, we did."

"So he'll be back in a bit," said Maria, eyes beginning to betray an anger building deep within her mind.

"Yes," said Fiordiligi, looking up to see a raven flying up to them. "In fact, there he is."

The raven that Fiordiligi had seen flew down in front of Ike, landing and transforming back into his human form to reveal that it was indeed Gaston.

"I found some people," said the raven promptly. "From the looks of it, it's a group of maybe thirty, forty soldiers."

"Finally!" said Maria. "I've been wondering when there would be military here!"

"But such a scant force?" asked Fiordiligi, stepping forward as she said this. "Why, we will make mincemeat out of them with our numbers."

"That's what I can't figure out," said Gaston.

"It be like dey're expe'tin' somevin," added Willie, rubbing his chin pensively.

"Like they want us to push forward," said Ike. "But we'll have to go with it for now. Uh, I think we'll go ahead and attack them directly. I mean, we can make short work of them with our numbers alone, I'm sure of it."

"Okay then," said Gaston. "Let's get moving then!"

The brigade continued marching forwards, the plains being ever so uncompromising as the hills rolled all over the place. Willie was beginning to get edgy for the need to fight somebody, Maria getting annoyed at how long it was taking to find the enemy.

Finally, however, the brigade stopped upon seeing forty men charge forwards.

"Hmph," said Maria. "They really think they can do this…"

"We'll prove them wrong, then," added Gaston, the two of them transforming shortly afterwards as Ike raised Ragnell high in the air.

"Charge!" yelled the commander, and almost instantly the army descended down on the forty warriors. Willie prepared a fireball spell as he ran forward, Maria running in front of him and Gaston taking to the skies as Fiordiligi ran as fast as she could with the staff in tow.

The battle unfolded very quickly, two to three soldiers on the Gardelian army ganging up on one member of the Jargonese soldiers and defeating them very easily.

Ike himself rushed onto the battlefield shortly after the charge descended on the resistance, and he fearlessly brandished Ragnell, ready to fight.

Willie, on the other hand, unleashed the fireball he had been charging very nervously, never expecting it to actually hit the man he was trying to attack. He fumbled the tome in his hand, but he surprisingly managed to recover it quickly enough to launch another fireball, this time effectively burning the soldier he was working on to a crisp.

Gaston hovered around the battlefield on the other hand, swooping down into the fray and injuring a soldier, not enough to kill the said soldier, but just enough to injure him. Even then, though the soldier still fell to the ground twitching, and to Gaston's sheer astonishment he stopped moving altogether a few minutes later as he watched Maria and Ike make very short work of a group of five soldiers, Ike slashing two of them in the torso at the same time with Maria managing to twist the necks of all three soldiers.

And before the brigade knew it, the battle was over. Even more surprising to everybody was the fact that they sustained almost no injuries whatsoever. Fiordiligi was of course not very amused at not having had anything to do in the battle, but even then, the shock factor of how quickly the battle ended surprised them.

As the army slowly went back to marching formation, Willie, Fiordiligi, Maria, Ike, and Gaston met up at the head of the army again, the two laguz transforming back into their human forms as the group got together.

"What was that?" asked Ike.

"I have no idea," said Fiordiligi. "I do not think that battle lasted any longer than two or three minutes."

"That fast?" asked Maria, stepping back a little. "What happened?"

"Didn't none of yeh see me get dat goon back dere?" asked Willie. "I don't dink it was fair, dough…"

"Are you kidding me?" asked Gaston, raising his voice in his surprise. "Of course it wasn't fair! I didn't even try to do much harm, and I killed a guy with one blow!"

"This is admittedly very shameful," said Fiordiligi, shaking her head. "They must have deployed their worst troops against us."

"But why?" asked Gaston.

"Yeh!" exclaimed Willie, throwing his arms high in the air and almost accidentally throwing the tome onto the head of an unfortunate soldier behind him. "Det ain't cool!"

"Plus, they would not do that if they were in their right minds," added Ike, driving Ragnell into the ground.

"What's going on?" asked Maria.

There was a short, contemplative silence as all five of them began to think hard, Willie pacing around a patch of grass as Maria sat down next to Ragnell.

"Something's up," said Ike finally. "They wouldn't leave their worst troops behind for no reason."

"That, or their troops are just badly trained," said Gaston.

"But nothing chalks up to that!" exclaimed Maria, jumping up and almost cutting herself on Ike's blade. "We've met almost no resistance, the one troop of resistance we do meet is incredibly small, and on top of that we slaughter the friggin' soldiers."

"This sounds more like a massacre than a battle, now that I think about it," added Fiordiligi. "But that is not the point. There has to be something else going on now."

"I dink yeh were roight teh send Bonnie beck teh Alecksandreh," injected Willie. "Somevin's goin' on 'ere dat we don't know novin about."

"Should we just start turning back?" asked Gaston.

"And brand ourselves as traitors to Gardelia?" asked Fiordiligi, emerald eyes gleaming in anger for a split second. "I will do no such thing."

"We shouldn't turn back anyways," added Ike, tugging Ragnell out of the ground and walking forwards as he said this. "After all, we did come this far, and we did say we would meet up with Byron. Let's see what he thinks of all this before we make any moves out of here."

"And what if it's too late?" asked the raven laguz.

"Then we just grin and bear it," retorted the cat laguz. "Now let's get going."

"Forward march!" shouted Ike, holding Ragnell on his shoulder as he walked forward.

And from there, the only other sound that was heard besides the constant march of feet on hard plains was the giggling of Fiordiligi and Maria at how silly Ike sounded saying such a phrase.

* * *

Ike had barely woken up two days later when a horn blared very loudly rather close to the brigade.

The mercenary let out a yell, the rest of the group jumping up in surprise as they were rudely woken up from their slumber within Ike's tent.

"Yikes!" yelled Willie. "Wet de 'ell was dat?"

"Could it be General Byron?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Damn it!" yelled Maria, jumping out of the sleeping bag and rushing to get her clothes on. "We're not prepared!"

"You're telling me!" yelled Gaston, jumping up as well while tugging his pants on. "We need to get dressed! Quickly!"

Ike said nothing instead getting out of the sleeping bag and rushing to get his clothes on, everybody else doing the same.

When they emerged from the tent a few minutes later, they found the rest of their brigade already getting dressed frantically.

"Damn it," said Ike. "We were definitely not ready."

"Yer tellin' me, Governor?" asked Willie, looking out and seeing another brigade marching towards them. "Byron's right dere!"

"Damn!" cursed Fiordiligi. "But at least we should meet him, yes?"

"Indeed," added Ike. "We're ready, so let's meet up with him already.

The mercenary nodded, the five of them trotting up the hill towards the brigade going towards them. They had camped in a rather spacious valley the night before, and so the uphill climb was very necessary to reaching the brigade.

At the head, they were able to recognize General Byron, scarlet hair seeming to catch on fire in the rising sun. The five of them walked up to him.

"Ah, Sir Ike," said the general, nodding happily. "Good to see you're still kicking."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ike. "The one unit of resistance we ran into was super weak! We slaughtered them without losing a single man!"

"You too, huh?" asked the general as they walked back down to the camp. "We got that same story."

"What?" asked Maria, her head darting at her to face the general. "You're kidding!"

"I wish I was," replied Byron. "But as it stands, we ran into very little resistance."

"Something is definitely up," said Gaston. "This wouldn't just happen."

"It could be that we are all inexperienced in war, however," interjected Byron, gesturing as he spoke. "Remember that this continent has seen no wars for nine hundred years."

"But even then, that doesn't say anything," said Ike. "I've seen nations at war before, and even nations without much war experience wouldn't dare think of such a thing. They tend to think either 'numbers' or 'stronger weapons'. Something is running under our feet here."

"Wich is wy dey asked me teh sen' Bonnie teh Alecksandreh," added Wilie.

"I see," said Byron. "That might be a smart move."

"Oh, I do hope that it is not as bad as we think it is…" said Fiordiligi, worry staining her voice.

"Yeah, I hope so too," added Maria, hand playing with the collar of her shirt.

Just then, a chirp sounded from above, and a linnet bird flew down onto the group of six.

"Bonnie!" yelled Willie, holding out his hand for Bonnie to land on. "Dere yeh are! Wy are yeh back alredy?"

The linnet bird landed on Willie's hand and chirped, almost frantically.

"Wet?" asked the Cockney boy. "Yer speekin' all in messes. Wet're yeh sayin'?"

Bonnie continued to chirp frantically, Byron turning to face Maria with a confused expression on his face.

"What is that bird—?" asked Byron, before the cat laguz brought a finger onto her mouth.

"Hush," she said simply as the bird continued to chirp frantically.

"Wet?" asked Willie after Bonnie finished chirping frantically. "Dat ain't good! Tell me yeh was seein' vings!"

The linnet bird trilled sadly.

"Oh, no…" said Willie. "Dat ain't good fer any ef us!"

"What happened?" asked Byron. "Is something wrong?"

"It's Alecksandreh!" yelled the Cockney boy, arms flying around wildly. "It's been killed!"

"You mean destroyed?" asked Maria.

"Det's wat Bonnie said," replied Willie, his linnet bird letting off a chirp as if to accentuate it.

"What?" asked Ike. "How could that have happened? Who was it destroyed by? _Tsotsis_? Bandits? Who?"

"Dem people of Jergon did it!" yelled Willie.

"Jargon?" asked Fiordiligi. "Impossible!"

"Nobody can break through a font that completely surrounds every last patch of ground in a nation!" exclaimed Byron. "How is that possible?"

"We've even blocked the seas and everything, for crying out loud!" yelled Gaston, wings beginning to fidget just a bit. "What's going on here?"

Bonnie chirped loudly, Willie perking his ears up as he heard the bird chatter away.

"Are yeh kiddin' me?" asked the Cockney boy, his expression heightening in alarm as the bird trilled as if to confirm something.

"What did she say now?" asked Ike.

"Dat dem Jargon blokes came frem deh air," said Willie. "An' I'm sure she don't mean wit dem Pegasis."

"You mean from thin air?" asked Maria, body inching towards Willie.

"As in, they just appeared from nowhere?" added Gaston.

"Yeh!" exclaimed Willie wildly, pointing at Gaston. "Yer roight!"

"Aw, crap!" exclaimed Byron in turn, fist angrily pounding the air underneath it. "They have warp magic!"

"So they must have warped over the quarantine," said Ike. "But for that to happen, they had to know we were coming."

A profound silence took hold of the camp, not a soul moving or making any kind of sound. Apparently, the people in the army had found themselves listening intently to the conversation, and with this shocking revelation they were awestruck.

Nobody said anything, until finally, Fiordiligi looked at Willie.

"Bonnie did not happen to hear anything that the Jargonese usurpers said, did she?" she asked.

Bonnie chirped a few times, Willie's face paling considerably as he heard what the linnet bird was saying.

"She did," he began, slowly. "Dey said dey knew whet was comin' jest frem de tree ov us sayin' we'd do wars on dem. Dey also said dey 'ad us all trapped."

"So they warped into the capitols of Forgerat and Tardal as well?" asked Ike.

"Yep," said the Cockney boy as the color slowly returned to his face.

"Oh, no…" said Byron, holding his head and shaking it. "This is bad. This is really bad. Not only did they warp past the quarantine, but they also caught us in our own trap. They also probably killed our leaders, too!"

"You mean they can attack us now?" asked Gaston. "And if we keep going to the capitol, we're even more screwed than we already are?"

"Apparently," said Ike, shaking his head.

"Crap!" yelled Maria. "We need to do something to alert all of the other brigades to watch their backs!"

"Messages!" said Byron, holding a finger up. "We should have enough ravens here to deliver enough messages to the rest of the brigades to tell them to turn back!"

"My goodness!" said Fiordiligi. "But that is quite a few messages to write, is it not?"

"Don't worry about that, milady," replied Byron. "I'm sure I can arrange to get all of the messages written with magic."

"Then get to it!" yelled Ike. "We don't have a minute to lose!"

Byron ran down into Ike's army, frantically shouting for Willie's magic teacher as he ran.

"Damn it!" said Maria. "Ike was right the entire time!"

"I can't believe we doubted you at first!" added Gaston fretfully. "Oh, now the laguz nations are in real trouble."

"We will find a way out of this, however," said Ike. "I hope it doesn't get to that point where we only have one option left, but we'll find a way out eventually."

"I hope we do," said Fiordiligi, sadness quavering in her voice just a little.

"Let's eat," said Maria. "We'll need it after what we just heard."

Nobody said anything as the cat laguz walked down the remaining distance towards their camp, the rest of the group following her shortly afterwards, their heads hung low at the uncertainty of what would happen next.


	7. Chapter 7: The Warp Gate

Dang. I'm in heat here. I don't know what to do about this.

I mean, honestly. I've just been so productive on this since the ideas are just gushing out of my being. I'm not kidding, either. It's like my mind won't leave me alone for some reason. Halp!

Anyways, you know the rest. Here's the next chapter, and enjoy!

* * *

_**With all of the brilliance of the quarantine closing the continent off to arrest the spread of the war, Jargon still found a way to get around it.**_

_**Using the warp magic that none of the three laguz nations knew about, the strongest men of the Jargonese army amassed themselves in the capitol and warped themselves as soon as the armies of its opponents left their home borders. After showing up in their capitols, they ransacked all of the cities of the opposing nations, effectively conquering the nations and putting Galdor and Stobin in danger as well.**_

_**Despite their strategic advantage over the rest of the continent, their main concern is getting rid of the armies that sought to destroy them. Now, they close in on the combined armies of Gardelia, Forgerat and Tardal, intending to catch them by surprise at the capitol.**_

_**However, Ike's quick thinking and Willie's linnet bird were all it took to alert the combined armies that the Jargonese were not in Florenjal. General Byron is quickly able to alert all other groups of the army, and the advance on the capitol of Jargon is halted, and counsel is taken between all of the brigades via messages.**_

_**The armies of Tardal and Forgerat all agree that going to the capitol is the safest bet there is. Warp magic works from a portal that has a limited amount of uses, and using this logic the Tardal army hypothesizes that if the warp gate is still there, they could warp out of Jargon much like Jargon warped out of the quarantine. While they might not be able to warp everybody out of the country, they can warp some people out of Jargon and into either Stobin or Galdor, where they could return the Jargonese fire from a safer stance. Reluctantly, the Gardelian army decides to march to the capitol along with everybody else, and all of the armies meet up successfully at Florenjal, the Jargonese army on its heels when they arrive.**_

_**Ike knows that time is limited, and so he sets out with his group and General Byron, intending to let the combined army know where the warp gate is once they find it.**_

Chapter 7: The Warp Gate

"Okay, so are we ready to find this thing?"

"What do you think is stopping us?"

"Aw! But I wanted to do those girls at the inn. Hot babes, they are!"

"Byron!"

A loud slap resounded in the still night air.

"Dis ain't deh time! Let's go alredy!"

The group walked forwards, walking into the rather plain palace in front of them that was the center of Jargon's government.

Ike and the gang had been itching to find the portal ever since they got to Florenjal, and in their search they had decided to bring Byron around.

That had proved to be a mistake; for then the general began complaining about how he had not slept with a woman in ages and that he had met a really beautiful girl at the inn that he could have slept with. Fiordiligi and Maria were both disgusted that a general would behave in such a way, so they surprised the men in their group by literally dragging Byron all the way to the palace by his ears. Willie had ranted about it for a good minute, but the scene eventually morphed into a somewhat more serene play of events.

And eventually, they were walking towards the palace.

After a few seconds of walking, Ike approached the unguarded gates, opening them rather easily with a creak coming from the rusted hinges. Upon entering, they found themselves facing the building itself. A rather small coral structure made up the palace's walls, simple doors and windows laying about all over the place on the hard rock. It did indeed smell quite a bit like ocean.

"So, first order of business," began Gaston. "Where the hell would they put the warp gate anyways?"

"Probably somewhere where they could access it easily with a large group of people," replied Byron. "That's a lot of people they had to warp, you know."

"And the gate's confined to the room it's in, you say?" asked Maria.

"Yes," said Byron. "So obviously it wouldn't be outside."

"So it has to be in the castle," said Ike. "All right. I think we know where we need to go, right?"

"Yep," replied Willie cheerfully, walking towards the palace doors and entering the palace, everybody else following behind the Cockney boy.

Upon entering the castle, they found themselves immediately in the throne room. The rather small room was not very ornate at all, even the red carpet that walked up to the throne being nonexistent as the group walked in.

"Hm," began Fiordiligi as she entered. "This is such a simple throne room. And I do not see a warp gate here."

"And if the size of the palace says anything, they couldn't fit an army anywhere else in the palace…" added Ike.

"So where could they go?" asked Byron.

The group began to think a little, Ike pacing around the throne room as Byron and Gaston both stood in place. Fiordiligi walked over to the window, looking outside, as did Willie. Maria walked all the way to the throne, looked at it, and after a brief inspection she noticed a slit of pitch blackness within the floor that was very unnatural just under the right side of the throne's legs.

Her curiosity piqued, the cat laguz knelt down on the floor, and when she looked into the slit of darkness, her sensitive eyes noticed walls of rock underneath with an equally rocky staircase leading down into the depths.

Without wasting any more time, the cat laguz promptly stood up, and after giving the throne a slight push away from the slit, she found a stairwell leading into the depths, the throne giving a loud and somewhat cavernous sound as it shifted.

This got everybody's attention, and all eyes in the throne room turned to Maria, who smiled.

"I think this could be it," said Maria, pointing down into the hole that opened.

"If et's secret, it proberbly is," said Willie, walking towards Maria and looking down into the stairwell when he got close enough. "Cem on!"

The six of them filed down the stairwell, Maria and Willie first with the rest of the group following shortly behind. They walked down a long stairwell, the darkness pervading the area with the few lit torches they found on their way being ample enough light to work with as they walked down the winding stairwell with all of its twists and turns.

Eventually, the walkway evened out so that there was a huge cavern ahead of them, the cavern being very dimly lit by a bunch of torches on stands. All of the torches surrounded a very large central platform, which hung over a rather large pit that descended into a lava pit underneath them which also helped in lighting the room with an eerie red glow.

"Damn, it sure is hot here," said Byron.

"Is that the gate?" asked Ike, pointing at what was sitting on the other side of the platform.

For on that side of the platform, a large circle stood vertically from the ground. Within the framed circle swirled a purple mass of energy, seemingly like a fluid in its interactions with its environment. Carved into the intricate stonework of the gate was a very large diamond that stood majestically over the purple mass. Eight other slots for diamonds were also seen, but they were all empty as if a diamond had been there before.

"Apparently," said Fiordiligi as she walked forwards. "I never thought I would see one of these in my lifetime."

"Okay, that's great and all, but how do we get this thing to work?" asked Maria, walking forward and touching the stone gate.

"I'm pretty sure Willie's teacher would know that stuff," said Byron. "Right, Willie?"

"Yep, Governor," replied the Cockney boy as he looked around a little bit. "I dink we know whet teh do later, den."

"Indeed," said Ike. "Now, who should we bring in here when we warp out of this place?"

"That's a good question," said Gaston.

"I'd say that a few representatives from each brigade be present when we warp," said Byron. "It might help later, who knows?"

"You've got a point," said Ike.

"So we should go back now, yes?" asked Maria.

"We should," confirmed Byron. "Now, if those ladies at the inn are still there…"

"Byron!" shouted Fiordiligi, enraged at the general's behavior. "I thought you were quite done thinking about her!"

"Not really, no…" said Byron.

"Ugh…" groaned Maria in disgust. "Aren't you too old to be into that kind of thing?"

"I can never be too old!" claimed the general. "In fact, my fa—!"

"All right, that's enough there for today, isn't it?" interrupted Gaston nervously. "We need to get out of here and let those guys know about what's going on with the warp gate, okay?"

"Thank you, Gaston," said Ike. "Let's go. We don't have much time left."

The group walked out of the cavern, Fiordiligi taking care to slap Byron really hard across the face when they came close to each other.

* * *

The next day, Byron wound up frantically searching for the palace, the rest of the group and a rather small army in pursuit as they frantically ran after the general.

The battle had begun right when the sun rose. Nearly everybody was caught off guard when a hail of arrows suddenly flew right over the walls of the city. Thankfully, everybody was sleeping in a house when the arrows were flying, so nobody was killed by surprise. However, it was still quite the considerable jolt to their morale that they had been caught off guard.

Ike and Maria had then run off to find everybody else who volunteered to be part of the small army that would use the warp gate, just managing to return to the inn when Willie, Fiordiligi, Gaston, and Byron met up with them with everybody else. From there, they realized they did not know where the palace was in bright daylight.

And so, they were running along, Maria and Gaston on the lookout for arrows in case they came raining back down.

The group was in a state of panic as they raced to find the palace, and nobody could really concentrate on where they were going except Byron and Ike. The two of them ran at the head of the charge, fearlessly leading them and stopping only when Maria or Gaston alerted the rest of the group to arrows. The army ran forward as quickly as possible, searching and searching for the palace.

Finally, though, Ike and Byron spotted the palace right in front of them, elated to see the familiar structure.

However, before the two commanders were able to say anything, Maria's ears picked up the now all-too familiar

"Take cover!" yelled Maria, effectively interrupting their announcement.

Suddenly, the army panicked, frantically rushing into buildings or whatever other cover was available to their disposal, crowding into the same hallways as the knew the inevitable rain of arrows was coming and they all wanted to live. Some took to hiding in empty crates that they found outside, others hiding against the backs of the buildings closer to the city walls hoping that the trajectory of each arrow was not low enough that they could get hit.

Some people were still trying to take cover when suddenly, the arrows came raining down, sticking into the ground, the buildings, the roofs, whatever else they could hit. When the arrows landed, there were still a few stragglers left outside, among them Willie, who unfortunately took an arrow to the heel.

"Aaooowww!!" yelled Willie, gripping his leg as the army began exiting the buildings in a rush. "Viordilegi, 'elp me out 'ere!"

Thankfully, at this time Fiordiligi just came out of a building. Almost losing her mind upon finding Willie stuck there, she promptly bent down, pulled the arrow forcefully from his heel despite yells of pain from the Cockney boy, and she managed to mend it quickly with her heal staff.

Relief washed over Willie's being as he stood up, the two of them quickly running with the rest of the army.

"Dank yeh kindfully, mu'um," said the boy quickly as the two of them caught up with the army, which was now making a beeline for the palace immediately ahead of them.

"You're welcome," the blonde quickly said, also running as well.

Ike and Byron, meanwhile, decided it was better not to announce that they were at the palace, instead just rushing towards it and opening the gates shortly afterwards. The army behind them let out a cheer of joy, all of them filing into the castle as Ike and Byron held the gates open for them to enter in.

_Good thing Maria's at the front of the run_, thought Ike as the last of the army filed past the gate. Ike and Byron left the gates open behind them, and as they ran into the palace the resounding boom of the gates closing came from behind them.

Ahead of them, Maria and Gaston had already begun filing the army into the secret passageway under the throne one by one. They were waving their arms, yelling at the army to hurry up so they could get everybody into the room before the city was breached. Their efforts were working, and within a matter of one minute almost all of the army was heralded into the passageway. After the last anonymous army person was let in, Willie and Fiordiligi ran in, followed shortly afterward by the only four people that needed to enter it.

When everybody was gathered at the central platform in front of the gate, a general level of noise pervaded the platform as Ike, Byron, and Maria clamored to the warp gate, the three of them scanning faces as they searched for Willie's magic teacher. However, concern and then fright filled their figures when they found out that he was nowhere to be seen in the crowd.

Gaston was able to see Ike and Byron quarrelling in their frustration from the other side of the platform. Willie and Fiordiligi were both standing next to him, so they turned to him when they noticed Gaston pale just a little.

"Oh, dear…" said Gaston. "We have a problem, don't we?"

"Wet?" asked Willie. "Is me teacher 'ere?"

"No," said Gaston, scanning all of the faces quickly.

The raven and the Cockney boy looked at each other briefly before they both darted back out of the large room and up the passageway. Despite the fact that Fiordiligi was failing to chase them and yelling at them from the bottom of the passageway, Willie and Gaston's adrenaline rush caused them to be out of the passageway and back onto the streets before Fiordiligi finally collapsed on the stairs, giving up and deciding that going back to the passageway would be a better choice anyways.

The raven and the Cockney boy ran down the road that they had traveled, not getting far from the gate when suddenly, with an arrow stuck in his face, they found Willie's magic teacher lying limp against the side of a building, his lifeblood pooling all around him.

"Aaaoooowww!" shrieked Willie in shock, Gaston bending over him.

"Oh, dear…" said Gaston. "This is a problem. Oh, I hope he has something in here…"

This being said, the raven began frisking the dead man's pockets. This snapped the Cockney boy out of his shocked reverie.

"Gestan!" yelled Willie. "Whady'e dink yer doin'? I ain't never seen anybody do dat! Stop it!"

"Do you want to get out of here or not?" yelled Gaston, turning to face Willie wildly with his hands still in a pocket of the dead man.

"Well, yes, Governor," replied Willie, nodding slightly. "But—"

"Then shut up and let me frisk this guy's pockets!" retorted the raven, promptly returning to his task.

After frisking his breast pocket, Gaston found a piece of paper, promptly taking it out and unfolding the paper as Willie stood next to him.

"Say that which you associate with the nation you wish to go to," said Gaston. "Then you'll go there from the gate."

Just then, a loud boom sounded from the direction of the city gates. Willie turned his head, turning his head back to face the raven as another boom sounded throughout the city.

"We getta get back!" exclaimed Willie.

Gaston nodded, the two of them running back to the palace. Upon arriving there, however, the sound of a giant block of wood falling onto the hard earth came from the direction of the city gates. The raven looked around, and then motioned for Willie to get into the passageway.

The Cockney boy stopped, looking at the raven bewilderedly.

"Gestan, get in dere!" yelled Willie. "We ain't goin' nowere wivout yeh!"

"I'll hold them off!" exclaimed Gaston. "Get in there, and get the army warped somewhere. Go, damn you!"

"No!" replied Willie loudly. "Wat'ye dink Meria an' de rest o' de—?"

Willie could not continue his sentence, though, for before he could register anything else Gaston had shoved him down into the passageway, and he proceeded to push the throne back to where it was so that the Jargonese could not see anything until it was too late. He then proceeded to jump out of the window, transforming and flying off into the skies as the army took notice of the raven flying out of the city.

Meanwhile, Willie got up on the other side of the throne and looked up, finding that his way was barred and that there was no reasoning with Gaston at a time like this. Realizing how short on time he was, he ran down the passageway as fast as he could, breath coming out raggedly after all of the running that he was unused to. Eventually, he reached the main platform to find that the army was still there, Fiordiligi gripping her heal staff somewhat nervously as she saw Willie return without the raven.

"Where's Gaston?" asked Fiordiligi.

"I'll tell yeh later," said Willie hurriedly, beginning to push through the crowd to get to where Ike and Byron were bickering. "Ike! Beyron! Were're we goin'?"

"I told you Byron, I'm not going to do that!" shouted Ike as Willie got closer to them. "That has to be the most horrible suggestion ever!"

"But you never can tell!" shouted Byron in response. "I know more about these things than you ever will! Now just try my idea, okay?"

Willie simply walked up to the warp gate, paper in hand. Of course, he could make very little sense of what the paper said, but Gaston's aural prompting stuck in his head as Fiordiligi walked up next to him, all faces turning to the Cockney boy as he thought quickly. Finally deciding that he should just say whatever, he stood up tall, and took in a deep breath.

"Mountens!" yelled Willie so loudly that he overpowered Ike and Byron's bickering and caused everybody to stare at him.

And then, the purple mass broke off at the center, and as soon as Willie could blink the entire room was engulfed in purple light.

And then, the mass retreated onto the platform, entrapping everybody on the platform and dissolving as quickly as it had trapped the souls there.

When the mass dissolved, nobody was standing on the platform anymore. The only thing that remained of the combined laguz armies was a piece of a headband that was slowly sailing towards the lava.

* * *

In an entirely different part of Greljedo, a purple mass appeared out of nowhere. It then opened up, and a whole mess of laguz and beorc all fell onto the side of a mountain. Some tumbled this way and that way, and others just stood up where they were when they had fallen.

Ike took a particularly hard fall as his shin managed to hit a rock when he landed. With a groan, he shakily turned over so that he could look up, Maria instantly at his side from where she had fallen on her butt next to him.

"Are you okay?" asked Maria.

"I'm fine, thank you," said Ike. "My leg's killing me, though."

"No kidding," commented the cat laguz, looking at the rock that Ike fell on. "That must be a little hard on the legs there."

"Damn it," said Ike. "I can't believe this! Now I owe Byron an apology…"

"Apology accepted," said Byron as he walked up to Ike. "How the hell did a simple boy like him figure it out?"

"I don't know," said Ike. "But what matters is that you were right. Ah… My leg's killing me!"

"Oh, here I am," said Fiordiligi, holding her white dress as she ran forward. "What happened?"

"My shin hit a rock when I fell," said Ike simply.

"Ooh…" said Fiordiligi, bending down. "I should probably tend to that. A broken bone would not be good for any of us. Right or left?"

"Right," said Ike simply.

The healer shook her head to get some sandy-blonde locks out of her face, and then she brought her staff over to the area that Ike mentioned, the staff glowing briefly before it faltered.

"There," said Fiordiligi. "You should be able to walk just fine now."

"Thanks," said Ike as he promptly stood up, wiping his forehead with his forearm. "Where's Willie?"

"Right 'ere, Governor!" shouted Willie as he clamored up the side of the mountain to where the group was standing.

"Where in hell did you learn how to use that thing?" asked Byron.

"Me teacher wain't in dere," began Willie. "Wen Gestan and I went teh look fer 'im, we found 'im dead as a doornail outside o' de gate. We found notes in 'is pocket, we did. Dey came in 'andy, didn't dey?"

"Wait…" said Maria. "Where's Gaston?"

"Oh, 'im?" asked Willie. "Dat stubborn ol' bloke went right an' 'eld dem off fer us, 'e did. I dent no were 'e is now, dough."

"So, we left him in Florenjal is what you're saying?" asked Maria, her left eye twitching slightly in anger.

"Yep, mu'um," replied Willie. "De gentelman went wit me wen I got dat note, and den 'e made me go down with de rest o' yeh. I troied teh get 'im down, but 'e went right and shoved me down dem stairs, 'e did."

"Oh," said Ike. "I guess he closed the passageway off then."

"Dat 'e did, Governor," replied the Cockney boy.

"Oh, I hope he's all right…" said Maria, gazing out into the distance. "Speaking of which, where are we?"

Everybody else stared out into the distance to find themselves on one of a number of mountains that were visible to the eye from where they were. Mountains were everywhere in sight, some lacking the snow-capped peaks that some others clearly had. The sun shined majestically down on the said peaks, and foliage was visible all over the sides of the mountains.

"Hoo…" commented Byron. "Looks like we're in Galdor."

"Galdor?" asked Ike. "So we're safe here?"

"We should be," said the general. "Except that they might be overly cautious with this war."

"Why would they be?" asked Maria. "They are all branded here. They wouldn't wish for the extermination of their heritage, you know."

"Not to mention it would anger the laguz immigrants that live here," added Fiordiligi.

"But the beorc are also living in this nation," replied Byron, amber eyes looking out into the distance. "And the beorc are also part of the branded's heritage in one way or another, right?"

"Why are you all speaking so openly about the branded?" asked Ike.

As the mercenary got dirty stares in his direction, he shrugged his shoulders. While Ike had been on Greljedo long enough to know that laguz and beorc were not always at each other's throats, he was always puzzled on why the attitude towards the branded was so positive.

"What, you got a problem with them?" asked Maria. "Huh?" She leaned into Ike a little bit, forcing him to lean back in return. "Do you? Do you? Do you?"

"No! No! No!" exclaimed Ike, waving his hands around and effectively getting the cat laguz out of his face. "It's just that where I come from, the brand is considered a crime against the Goddess."

"What?" asked Fiordiligi as the group stepped back, appalled at the idea that a group of people could be so racist. "Who thought of that idea? That certainly ranks among the most ridiculous conventions anybody has thought of!"

"I know," replied Ike. "But they still think that that's the case. The attitude was changing when I left, though."

"That's good to hear," said Maria. "So I take it that's why you're confused?"

"Yes," said Ike. "I've never expected anybody to speak so well of the branded in my life, that's all."

"Makes sense," said Maria.

"I'm a crime in de eyes o' yer blokes?" asked Willie.

"Yes," replied the mercenary simply. "Mind you, I have no problem with the branded, but everybody else has some problems where I come from."

"That is really too bad, then," said Byron as he sat down on the ground. "Over here in Greljedo, we think better things of the brand. Hell, the Church of Tardal says that it's a sacred item!"

"In what sense?" asked Ike.

"Think of it as this," said Fiordiligi. "A laguz and a beorc cannot agree to something. They can fight. They can compromise. And then, they can put aside their differences. You can be friends with them. And then, you can love them. And then, you can trust them enough with your heart."

"And then the kids are born," said Ike.

"Exactly," replied the blonde as she began walking around him with an air of knowledge surrounding her. "To us of Greljedo, the brand is a symbol of the ultimate comeuppance of differences caused by race, and is thus a highly prized thing."

"Ah…" said Ike, taking in all the details.

"But of course, there are some that don't agree," said Maria. "But that's a very small minority of people on this continent."

"I see…" said the mercenary, nodding his head as he took in all of his information. "My friend would have liked to hear that."

"De gentelman was branded?" asked Willie.

"Yes," replied Ike. "With dragon blood, too."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Byron, smiling warmly. "If he's still alive, then he'll be living for a while."

"That is good to hear," said Ike. "Still, none of the branded I ever knew could talk to animals like how Willie here manages to talk to Bonnie."

"You'll be even more surprised to learn that Galdor is ruled by a branded king," said Maria.

"Really?" asked the mercenary, eyes widening in surprise. "Well, that is certainly something."

"Indeed it is, Ike," said Byron, standing up and walking over to where the rest of the brigade was. "I think we've chatted enough for now, yes? Let's get to the capitol."

"Speaking of which, where exactly are we in Galdor?" asked Fiordiligi.

A dead silence conquered the group's minds, Byron paling as he turned to face Fiordiligi.

"I don't know…" said the general. "Oh, damn it! Where are we?"

"Halt! Who goes there?"

Another short silence pervaded the air, everybody frozen in place as they heard the march of boots towards the brigade.

"Well, if there's one good thing about the rangers finding us, it's that we'll at least know where we're going…" commented Maria, shrugging her shoulders quickly as a bunch of men appeared aiming crossbows at everybody in the group and the brigade.


	8. Chapter 8: A New Side

Dang. I'm still on a roll! Somebody shoot me now!

You know the rest. Here's the chapter, and enjoy!

_**The Jargonese army returned to Florenjal shortly after the combined laguz armies had begun to live there, waiting for what they knew would happen next.**_

_**When the Jargonese army finally did attack, however, Ike and Byron had collected a small army and made off to the warp gate just as the city was being breached. Before the Jargonese were able to get to this small brigade, Willie had managed to warp the group into the Burial Mountains of Galdor, infamous for its rangers that patrol the ground that the people of Galdor praise as second only to the goddess Sharotal.**_

_**The rangers, upon seeing the brigade, take them to the capitol of Galdor, where the brigade gets an immediate audience with King Torzukel and his son, Prince Myriel, both of them demanding an explanation of why they were in the sacred burial grounds.**_

_**The gears of fate have slowly begun to turn against Jargon…**_

Chapter 8: A New Side

"And that's our story, sir. We really didn't mean any harm to your sacred land; we just didn't know where we would land."

"I see. Very well then. I guess there is really nothing that is to be punished if the warp was beyond your control then. You and your brigade will not be prosecuted."

"Thank you, sir."

Byron added a short bow at the end of the sentence.

The brigade had been led to the rather gorgeous mountain hall of King Torzukel and his son Myriel. The king and the prince both sat in thrones at the end of the hall, Byron standing in front of the royal family, caught looking at the rest of the hall with the corners of his eyes. As Torzukel's golden eyes looked at Byron softly, the general found himself staring at the marble statues on either side of the throne with the corners of his eyes.

Ike and the rest of the group were also visibly amazed at the hall; a long marble hall was the residence of the two thrones that sat majestically at the end of a long red carpet. Small figurines were seen in various places of the ceiling of the hall, looking down among the various people of the brigade.

Myriel shifted in his seat slightly, sifting a hand through his starch-white hair as he looked at his father with cold, hard golden eyes.

"Father, are you sure letting them stay here is safe?" asked the younger man.

"They may leave whenever they chose, Myriel," rebuked the older king. "As of the war effort, I will give it some thought."

"Give it some thought?" asked Byron. "I think now would be as good a time as any to join forces with Stobin to keep the Jargonese army at bay."

"Would it?" asked the king, shifting in his seat a little. "Right now, it looks like the Jargonese army is almost invincible here on this continent. It only has Stobin left before it has all of the laguz nations under its control. When I am the only independent ruler left, would I want to have problems with Jargon?"

"But if you resist and it's successful, then you don't have to worry about that!" countered the general, being careful not to raise his voice. "I am sure you and Stobin would have enough people to counter the Jargonese invasion of Greljedo!"

"And what if it fails?" asked Torzukel, leaning to the side in his seat.

"Besides, I think that the mark of the brand saves us from persecution," added Myriel, leaning his head on his arm as it sat on the armrest of his throne. "We should be quite all right then."

Some chirps sounded inside the hall, and before anybody else knew what was going on all eyes were on Willie, who was looking intently at his linnet bird as it chirped there. When the linnet bird finished chirping, the Cockney boy stepped forwards, pointing at Bonnie as he stopped.

"Bonnie 'ere says dat ain't de—" he began.

"Who gave you permission to speak?" interrupted Myriel, causing Willie to step back just a little.

"Well, Governor, I kin speek if I want teh, I kin," replied the Cockney boy. "An' as far as I no, I'm deh on'y one 'o nos what me pal Bonnie 'ere's sayin'!"

"That is rather weak," continued Myriel, rising from his throne threateningly. "I will not have a simple insect from the gutters standing and speaking in this—!"

"Myriel!" interrupted Torzukel authoritatively. "Stop that nonsense this instant!"

The prince sat back down in his throne.

"Now, what were you saying?" asked the king, facing the Cockney boy with a genial expression in his eyes.

"Det Bonnie 'ere says dat yer not roight in dat kind o' way, you ain't," replied Willie.

"And now, we have a guttersnipe criticizing a king," commented Myriel. "Just great, father. What do you—?"

"That is not quite what he means, and if you had any sense, you would let him finish first before saying such things!" interrupted Fiordiligi angrily, suddenly stepping forwards so that she was right next to Willie.

"Yeah, Governor!" added Willie, raising a fist towards the prince. "I'm jus' sayin' dat Bonnie's sayin' dat Jergon means teh kill ever'body wit 'laguz blood' er somevin' like dat."

"So it is laguz blood?" asked Torzukel.

"Meaning that the branded could possibly be in danger since you have both laguz and beorc blood mixed together," answered Byron.

"And how would you know that piece of information?" asked Myriel.

Bonnie trilled angrily, Myriel instantly taking the hint that the linnet bird was trying to give him.

"As it stands, maybe they will see us as being closer to beorc," commented Torzukel.

"But even then, degradation waits those with the brand," said Fiordiligi. "They could put you in a shantytown just for being who you are! Does that not bother you, milord?"

"Life is better than death is one thing my father always used to say to me," replied Torzukel. "If we live in a world where we are degraded, so be it."

"But what if you are killed?" asked Byron. "What then?"

Ike was beginning to get just a little edgy from watching the conversation play out, and it was only with Maria standing next to him that he was able to keep his cool. This approach reminded him of Dheginsea of Goldoa in a very disturbing way, and he struggled to keep his cool as well with Myriel being the annoying person that he was.

"Then that is that," replied Torzukel. "As it stands, I do not wish for blood to be spilt upon my soil for any racial tensions that apply to all laguz. Maybe there is a way we can prevent the bloodshed from occurring between the branded and the beorc."

Ike was finally unable to take sitting there watching the conversation play out.

"Then you just want to see what happens?" asked Ike, walking forward with a kind of irritation pervading his gate as he came to stand next to Byron. "I can tell you what might happen! They will probably sign a treaty with you, only to say it never existed and attack you right out of the blue. Or, you'll find a reason to declare war on Jargon, and you will lose and the continent will be purely beorc!"

"Good sir, I do not take kindly to criticism," replied Myriel, standing up.

"I have more experience with war than you do!" retorted the mercenary captain. "The land I came from was in the middle of a huge racial war that only just ended! I know what I am saying!"

"But even then, we might fare better in the afterlife!" said Torzukel.

"And?" asked Ike. "What if you take no action? There was a king in my land who refused to help his fellow laguz nations go through his country due to nobody being allowed in his borders. What happened to that king? Later, when he was the only thing left standing between those same laguz and a force that was trying to destroy the planet, his fellow laguz kings were only too glad to tear him to shreds! If you do this to your laguz heritage, I'm sure that they'll be more than happy to tear you to shreds as well! Do you want that?"

"Sir, that is enough!" yelled Myriel, walking up to Ike with malice in his eyes. "If you cannot stop yelling at my father like that, I will ask you to leave!"

The prince walked up right next to Ike, the two of them glaring at each other in absolute anger, the mercenary not even flinching as the shorter prince walked up to him.

"Am I supposed to be scared?" asked Ike. "Because it's not working."

"You would not have the gall to address royalty in such a manner!" stated the prince angrily.

"I'm only addressing your father like that because it's how I address everybody," replied the mercenary, standing perfectly still and as calm as he could be. "I've talked to many kings and queens and emperors similarly in my life. So if they can stand it, so can you."

"They do not know class divisions, then," replied Myriel. "They would learn well to learn those class divisions."

"And you would do well to learn that we all deserve just a little respect here in your own palace!" replied Ike, suddenly moving and grabbing the end of Myriel's sky-gray tunic with his left hand, the two of them staring each other down with absolute malice in their eyes.

The two of them stared each other down for a rather long time, the atmosphere of the room tense as the two of them went at each other with their minds. As a drop of sweat rolled down the side of Ike's face, nobody said or did anything at all to break the two up.

"Myriel," said Torzukel finally, voice trembling with rage.

For a few seconds the prince refused to break eye contact with the mercenary, finally facing his father, the same glare etched on his face as he had given to Ike.

"I will not have you address a visitor in such a manner," stated Torzukel, standing up. "You are dismissed from council. You may return to your quarters now."

The prince turned to leave, passing the king when he laid a hand on his shoulder.

"And if you dare to come back down here before I send for you, you will be sleeping with the mongrels tonight, understand?" added Torzukel, his voice quivering threateningly at his son.

Myriel simply nodded, leaving the hall quickly as he could. Torzukel turned to face the man who had stared down his son, his expression suddenly turning warm and friendly as he approached Ike.

"I apologize for my son's behavior," he said as he walked forward. "He can be a little too prideful sometimes."

"More proud than what is healthy for him," added Ike, looking at the direction Myriel had walked in.

"I would say arrogant," added Fiordiligi in turn.

"So would I," said Byron. "I mean, dear Sharotal! King Marco was never quite like that, and he was also very prideful."

"It is one of his greatest faults," said Torzukel in agreement with Byron's statement. "It shall lead to his fall one day, I am sure of it." He faced the mercenary again. "Sir… what is your name?"

"Ike," replied the mercenary simply.

"Sir Ike," repeated Torzukel, walking towards the mercenary until he was finally standing in front of him. "I have never heard anybody speaking like that in front of my son without getting intimidated by his anger at all. For that, I admire you. Tell me, what was this force that was trying to destroy the earth we walk on?"

"It was a goddess," replied Ike. "I fought her with several other people, and we all emerged victorious."

"Defeated a goddess…" expounded the king. "Quite the accomplishment, I must say. I admire you very much then. And your judgment is also seemingly noble. Very well. If you all agree that the best option is to ally ourselves with Stobin, then I shall do so."

"Thank you for understanding, sir," replied Ike, bowing down in front of the king as everybody else was trying hard not to burst out in happiness right there.

As Ike had gotten on one knee, however, Torzukel placed a hand on the mercenary's shoulder.

"Please, call me Torzukel," replied the monarch as Ike looked up at him. "And do away with all of these formalities at once! I am getting tired of watching you all standing stiff as statues right now!"

The entire army let out a sigh of relief at the same time, everybody loosening up as the hall began to fill with the sounds of conversation. Bryon let out an exhale as he loosened all of the joints in his body, raising his arms up in a victory pose.

"All right!" exclaimed Byron. "I'm off to celebrate! I'll see you all here later with a hot chick!"

"Byron!" yelled Fiordiligi and Maria simultaneously in their anger at the general.

Ike shook his head, smiling and resisting the urge to laugh at Byron as Torzukel nodded approvingly.

"Now this is more like it," he said simply, smiling congenially at the scene before him.

* * *

Ike sat in the quarters that Torzukel had prepared for him.

It was a rather nice room, actually; the temperature was a little on the cool side, but it was certainly nothing that Ike was not used too. It had quite a bit of space, too, and also a weapons rack where Ragnell currently rested. There were two beds in there, which came as a relief to the mercenary since he was tired of sleeping in the same bed with Maria. He also had a window which had a very nice view of the castle town just down the mountain from the palace, and also of interest were the numerous mountains visible in the distance.

The mercenary sat there, blue shirt resting on a clothes rack as Ike walked around without his shirt and his headband, taking the time to relax for the first time in what felt like ages. The cool mountain air felt pretty good on his tense muscles, and as he walked around he felt that in the end things would turn out all right the way they always did.

As he was walking around, he heard a knock on the door. Turning towards the door, his sapphire orbs glanced at it briefly before he sat down on the bed, bouncing slightly as his weight fell onto the mattress rather quickly.

"Come in," said the mercenary as he sat down.

When the door opened, Maria, Fiordiligi, and Willie walked into the room one after the other, the Cockney boy closing the door behind him as he entered the room.

"Hey, Ike," said Maria as they walked in.

"Agg!" exclaimed Fiordiligi. "What are you doing without your shirt on?"

"Viordilegi!" replied Willie. "It's jest a shirt! 'E won't do anyvin'!"

"It is kind of hard to do something with all of these people in the room," added Ike, noticing Maria's slight blush as she looked over Ike's upper body. "Besides, you know me better than that."

Ike decided not to mention Maria's blush as she scanned his body with her eyes. This was the first time that she had seen the mercenary without his shirt on, and Maria was pretty sure that not even Kuranga could match up to how Ike looked without a shirt. As she stared at him, she wondered who else was lucky enough to see the sculpted muscles of his body while they were in Tellius.

"True," replied Fiordiligi. "May we sit?"

"Sure," said Ike, scooting over on the bed so that the three of them were able to sit.

Despite this, though, they all sat on the other bed, all three of them facing him and Maria's blush having already faded fully.

"Actually, we wanted to hear tales," began the cat laguz. "You said you defeated a goddess."

"What of it?" asked the mercenary as he shuffled on the bed so that he faced the group.

"Now we are curious," said Fiordiligi. "We definitely have never met anybody who has defeated a goddess."

"An' we wanna no whet 'appened in yer land, we do!" added Willie.

"Do you really want to know?" asked Ike. "It's a very long story."

"We've got plenty of time," replied Maria. "We're not leaving for two days, you know."

"That's true," replied Ike. "Do you want to hear the entire thing?"

"Wy des it matter, Governor?" asked Willie.

"My journeys go through two wars," replied Ike.

"Quite the lengthy story, then," said Fiordiligi. "But still, it is a story we would like to hear."

"All right, then," said the mercenary simply. "It all started around eight years ago, when I found a woman who was out cold on a mission that my father had sent us on…"

And thus began Ike's tale of his adventures on Tellius. Ike would be sitting there for a while, relating to the three all of his adventures on Tellius, from how it came that he was employed by the princess Elincia of Crimea to exactly what had happened a few years later when the goddess Ashera was woken by the galdr of release. Every detail of the tale went told by the mercenary, and whenever one of them would ask a question Ike was only glad to be able to answer the said questions as he went through the tale of his journeys. The tale amazed Maria, who slowly had a strange admiration for the beorc implanted in her mind as she heard Ike tell the tale.

* * *

The next day, Fiordiligi sat on the bed in her room alone, thinking about Guglielmo.

She had not encountered Guglielmo anywhere in her time in Jargon. She had made it a point to find Guglielmo and Ferrando amongst all of the brigades of Gardelia that had been sent out. She had searched literally everywhere for the two faces she was familiar with.

But they were not there. Due to the rush caused by the Jargonese army, she had not had much time to think about it, but now that they had plenty of time to sit around doing nothing she had realized that something was wrong with the way things were.

And she sat there, just a little surprised when the door opened and Willie walked in on her thinking.

"'Ello, Viordilegi," began the Cockney boy. "Wat's de matter? Yeh've been in 'ere all day, mu'um! We're gettin' worried about yeh, we are."

"I am thinking about Guglielmo again…" replied Fiordiligi.

"Aw, is dat all?" asked Willie, sitting down next to the blonde so that he was free to talk to her. "I don't dink dat's all at all, mu'um."

"Willie, please," said Fiordiligi. "I am feeling just a little uncomfortable with myself. I do not think you would understand."

"Well, mu'um, it ain't never 'urt any good souls 'ere teh try, it dain't," replied the teenager genially.

Fiordiligi let out a sigh, and then turned to face her companion.

"I think that Ferrando and Guglielmo lied to me when they said they were going off to war," said Fiordiligi. "I never saw them anywhere when I checked the brigades in Jargon. Do you understand everything here?"

"Kep goin'," replied Willie.

Fiordiligi nodded, and then looked the Cockney boy in the eyes, emeralds seeming to hide a great anger underneath.

"I cannot help but think that those two suitors were our lovers in disguise," said Fiordiligi. "I cannot help but think that."

"An' wy would dey do somevin' like dat?" asked Willie.

"That is the question pervading my head!" exclaimed Fiordiligi, standing up with her arm stretched out at Willie. "I am very confused here! I am trying to sort it all out!"

"Well, mu'um, maybe it's jus' somevin' dat don't make sense," replied Willie.

"Maybe you are right," said Fiordiligi. "But still, it seems possible…"

"Well, mu'um, deh only way teh know fer sure is teh see fer ourselves," said Willie. "We'll see eventerally, mu'um."

"I suppose…" said Fiordiligi as Willie stood up. "I am feeling rather hungry now."

"Well, mu'um, if yeh want I kin take yeh down dere," said the Cockney boy, holding his arm out for her.

Fiordiligi eyed Willie's arm for a few seconds, finally taking the hand.

"I think I will go with you, thank you," said the lady genially.

The two of them walked out of the room, Willie beginning to feel just a little uncomfortable at how Fiordiligi had looked at him.

* * *

Ike, Willie, Maria, and Fiordiligi all sat in a small little conference room, a war map laid out on the table before them. Torzukel hovered above them, walking around the war room and looking at the four people in the group nervously.

Also joining them was Myriel, lithe body seated in a small chair. A somewhat unnerving glare seated itself on his golden orbs, but for the most part the prince of Galdor looked like he could fall asleep any second. Byron had called busy and was thus unavailable for the meeting, and while he said that he had some very important business to attend to, Maria and Fiordiligi were pretty sure that this business he needed to attend to was probably not very important at all.

The king paced around, his body coming to stop at the head of the long oak table that sat in the rather long room.

"All right, let us begin," said Torzukel. "We have just received unofficial word from somebody that the Stobin army is asking us to meet up at Forgerat in order that we may retake those lands."

"By unofficial, you do mean that one of us has to verify the sender as an acquaintance, right?" asked Myriel.

"That is true," replied the king, taking a folded-up note out from his tunic and handing it to Ike. "Tell me, sirs; do you recognize this handwriting?"

The mercenary captain took the note in his hand, and unfolded it. He scanned the letter's handwriting very carefully, but just for show. After all, he was not the one familiar with what each person's handwriting looked like, so after looking at it he shrugged, handing the paper to Maria shortly afterwards.

The cat laguz eyed the letter carefully, her eyes lighting up around halfway through the letter. By the time she finished reading it, she was shaking in her seat excitedly.

"You guys!" the cat exclaimed giddily to Ike, Willie, and Fiordiligi. "This is Gaston's handwriting! He's alive!"

"So you recognize the one who wrote the message," said Myriel simply, watching as Maria was literally leaping out of her seat as the others smiled in happiness.

"He was a friend of ours," replied Fiordiligi, emerald orbs glittering brightly in her joy. "We got separated from him at Florenjal."

"I new 'e was alive, I did!" exclaimed Willie, pumping his fist into the air.

"And now Stobin has agreed to help us," said Torzukel, nodding curtly. "Which is all the better for us, I suppose. That takes care of that, then."

"Which brings us to figuring out how to take back Forgerat, right?" asked Ike.

"Correct," said Torzukel. "I for one think it would be a very wise decision to leave the capitol under as much of a guard as we can hope to attain with the numbers needed to take back Forgerat."

"I think likewise," said Fiordiligi in reply. "I do not think we could afford another warp gate to be used on us."

"The stronger units should probably stay here, too," said Ike. "Jargon dumped all of their worst units in their home country; I'm pretty sure now that they have most of the rest of the continent they're saving all of their best troops for invading Stobin and Galdor."

"The rangers are the best units that we have," said the king of Galdor, pacing around front of the table. "So I shall call them back to guard the capitol in case of an attack."

"That's a pretty good idea," said Maria, tail swishing rapidly in excitement. "Where do we go from Forgerat?"

"That is a good question," said Myriel. "We shall see about that when we hold a conference with Chancellor Hargeld and Prime Minister Cecily in Forgerat."

"And then, there comes the question of who is commanding," said Torzukel. "Sir Ike. I hope you do not object to commanding my troops?"

"What?" asked Ike, almost falling out of his seat. "Why me?"

"I think that your judgement would be the best in this kind of situation," replied Torzukel. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no, there isn't," said the mercenary. "But why a stranger, of all people to ask?"

"Because you defeated a goddess," said the king of Galdor.

"Yeah, but dat don't mean 'e can plan dings fer yeh," added Willie.

"Willie, please," rebuked Ike sharply. "By that logic, I guess I could take control of your troops."

"Very well then," said Torzukel. "Those are the only true matters of importance. Myriel and I will also be going with you to Forgerat.

"What?" asked Fiordiligi. "Why?"

"Yeah!" added Maria. "Why can't you just stay here and pretend we're not even at war? You're people need to be ruled, you know!"

"I would rather go with you to make sure that at least the leaders are not killed," replied Torzukel. "Also, it boosts troop morale slightly."

"Dat sounds good teh me, Governor," said Willie.

"Which means we have only one thing left to talk about," said Myriel. "This 'Gaston' that wrote your letter mentioned something about a 'Despina' somebody or other in a separate paper he attached to the message."

"Despina?" asked Fiordiligi. "Oh, let me see it please! That was the name of my maid!"

The prince stood up and took another slip of paper out of his own tunic, handing it to the blonde shortly afterwards. Fiordiligi opened the paper slowly, carefully reading its contents.

Finally, she looked at Willie and the rest of her group with a pale expression on her face.

"Well?" asked Maria.

"Wet 'appened?" asked Willie.

"Firstly, he says that my sister is dead," replied Fiordiligi, a tear just beginning to roll down her cheeks. "Apparently, Jargon took over Jericho and tore the place down.

Torzukel walked over to Fiordiligi, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"I am sorry about your loss," he said comfortingly as Willie stood up and held her hand hard.

Nobody really said anything for a while, Fiordiligi crying silently without the support of anybody. Finally, she wiped the tears from her face, and then held the note up to her face again.

"It also says that he ran into Despina en route to Stobin," continued the lady. "And apparently, she has something to say about the two suitors that I would want to know about."

"Oh," said Maria, standing up and joining the congregation. "About time somebody put those guys in the grave, right?"

The cat laguz found Willie giving her a glare that shot daggers into her mind.

"I get deh feelin' dat ain't not wet 'e means," he retorted.

Before Maria was able to ask the Cockney boy to elaborate, she found herself silenced by the feel of Ike's hand on her shoulder.

"So is council adjourned?" asked Myriel.

"Yes, council is adjourned," replied Torzukel. "We shall gather the troops now, for tomorrow, we will march on Forgerat at sunrise. Is this agreed?"

"Yes, Torzukel," replied the mercenary, after having to mentally remind himself not to use sir.

"That is much more like it," said the king as he removed his arm from where it had been on Fiordiligi's shoulder.

On this optimistic note, the council ended, and after a small bit of informal conversation between the group and Torzukel, the group walked out of the conference room.


	9. Chapter 9: Retaking Forgerat

And here I am again.

Well, yesterday was my birthday, I had to play at a burial, I got the Canon Rebel XTi (which by the way kicks major ass), I ate at Benihana's, and I vomited the night before. Those are all the reasons why I didn't post this thing yesterday.

But you have this now, right? Joy!

And God, I hate writing battle scenes. And I mean war-battle, not person-on-person-battle. It's just... AARGG!!

You know the rest. Here's the chapter, and enjoy!

* * *

_**With Galdor having declared its allegiance to the laguz armies of what were once the three chief laguz nations, the armies march forward towards Jarden, the capitol of Forgerat. Ike leads the charge once again with Torzukel, Myriel, and Byron all following him. Torzukel's faith in the mercenary is very strong, and he is sure that with Ike at his side he will be able to take Forgerat in no time.**_

_**Hoping to meet Galdor in Forgerat is the army of Stobin, having been enticed to action by Gaston's pleas for help. The beorc of the nation side with Galdor, and as they march for Forgerat they only hope that they are both ready to take on Jargon from the bottom of the continent to their own home turf.**_

_**Ike is sure that all will go smoothly in retaking Forgerat, and so, he marches ahead, ready to take on the Jargonese army that has taken over the nation of tigers.**_

Chapter 9: Retaking Forgerat

Ike walked forward in the marshes of Forgerat, wondering when they would finally stumble across a Jargonese unit. Behind him, his group and the monarchs of Galdor followed him intently, trying to navigate the damp marshes of the tiger nation with a dread of the fog that was surrounding them.

"My, my, my…" Myriel would say from time to time. "I never thought the marshes of this nation would be this much of a problem. I do wonder how these tigers would navigate the city.

"They're used to it, that's why," Maria would reply. "But I can agree with you there; I don't think I'll ever get used to this stuff."

The group would just continue walking from there, not minding the groans of annoyance that came from literally everybody in the group at one time or another.

Torzukel was taking this rather lightly; despite the fact that he was a rather old king, he was still rather robust the way the branded kings of Galdor normally were. He was able to navigate the marshes with little trouble; however, the rest of the group thought otherwise.

And this was only one mile away from the border to Galdor; Ike wondered what it would be like several miles into the continent itself.

They also had not run into any resistance from Jargon at all, but this time, Ike expected this; after all, the Jargonese had used excessively dirty tactics against the other laguz nations, so Ike figured they would do the same thing to all of the countries that they were holding in their grasp.

Knowing this, Ike marched on; Ragnell perched on his shoulder and the rest of the army preparing whatever weapons they used in case they ran into any resistance.

Eventually, Maria's ears picked up a sound from somewhere in the dense fog that had covered the marshes since their entry. The cat laguz caught up with Ike, eyes piercing the fog to find some troops.

"Ike, I think we might have some resistance!" she whispered into the mercenary's ear, Ike instantly at attention.

"That's a good sign," he said under his breath. "Just tell me when it's safe to charge and I'll give the order."

The cat laguz nodded as Ike took Ragnell off of his shoulder and perched it in his fighting stance, the cue for the rest of the army to prepare for the charge. All of the laguz in the army transformed, and all of the beorc and branded in the army took out their weapons and tomes and staves to prepare for battle. Willie thumbed through his tome quickly, memorizing the new spell that he had learned from the king of Galdor as Torzukel took out his own light tome, standing by the Cockney boy as Fiordiligi brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Maria kept a close lookout into the fog, not quite having transformed yet. Finally, her eyes peered into the fog, and she saw a pretty sizeable unit of strong men who already had their weapons out. However, they seemed pretty relaxed, not expecting something at all even with the sound of footsteps coming ever closer in the marshes.

"Go," whispered Maria, shortly before transforming into her cat form and preparing to run forward, lavender fur standing on end and her fangs bared.

Ike raised his sword high in the air, and brought each foot forward until he was running towards the enemy.

"Charge!" yelled the commander, piercing the relative silence that had taken the area and effectively startling the resistance into hastily picking up their weapons.

However, they were still caught off guard as a huge group of laguz, beorc, and branded literally swarmed them, and they briefly raised their weapons before they came into contact with either fangs, claws, or weapons, as all of the mages in the army prepared to cast their arsenal of spells on the unlucky Jargonese army.

When the steel weapons of the soldiers of both sides collided, Ike immediately began with a foolish lance fighter who ran up to him blindly, bringing the lance down on the mercenary only to find that Ike had easily sidestepped the blow. Before the poor soldier could do anything else, Ike had chopped his head off, Willie running past him and joining into the fray.

As soon as the Cockney boy entered the fray, he raised his hand high in the air, summoning a somewhat larger fireball than what he had started out with, sending it flying at an archer who threatened to shoot down a hawk laguz with a crossbow. The move did not quite kill the archer, but it was enough to stun him such that said hawk could then dive in and finish off the soldier. The entire time, Willie kept a fierce smile on his features, preparing another fireball and hurling it at a lance wielder who had tried in vain to attack Fiordiligi. The healer quickly acknowledged Willie with a nod, running to a nearby ally who had an arrow stuck in his leg and tending to his wound.

Maria was having quite a time, jumping around all over the place and biting the soldiers in wherever she found she could make quick work of them. Joyfully running around, she managed to bite soldiers in the arms, after which they would drop their weapons and fight a losing battle with their bare fists. Sometimes, she got them in the throat, which only quickened their death by that much. And sometimes, she was able to twist the head around, killing them instantly anyways. No matter what, however, she felt content in helping on the battlefield, and she constantly stained the purple armor of the Jargonese armor with a ghastly shade of crimson as she went.

Ike, meanwhile, had continued going at one enemy after the other who carelessly rushed past him, having just sliced the legs off of an overzealous axe wielder who had literally rushed at him at full speed. He had found many other young men who were very overzealous as that, and he often made short work of them nonchalantly. Every so often, he would find a swordsman who proved to be somewhat smarter than the rest of them. These kinds of duels, Ike would welcome, even though he tended to defeat them pretty easily anyways since he usually just blocked a downwards slash and then went around them, managing to stab them with the massive two-handed sword that he held with him for the duration of the battle.

Torzukel busied himself mostly with helping Fiordiligi heal the wounded that happened to fall all over the battlefield. The woman showed great appreciation whenever Torzukel would take out a healing staff, often flashing him a smile before running off to whoever the next units that needed healing. Whenever the king was not needed for such duties, however, he was often one to take out his light magic tome, raising his hand and casting it on an enemy that had attracted Willie's attention. He really was concerned for the safety of everybody on the battlefield, and he made sure to do his part to make sure that everybody was safe.

Byron, meanwhile, was most concerned about keeping everybody safe no matter what the costs. Sometimes, with his brave heart he would kill an enemy threatening Fiordiligi, only to be rewarded with a slap to the face for unintentionally leaving a one-liner afterwards. Sometimes, he would also defend Willie and Torzukel equally, guarding them as they casted spells at the opponent.

At one particular point, Maria had made a blunder in her fighting where the opponent that she had bit in the arm had managed to break free of the hold without dropping his rather large lance. Panic swept through her being, but before she could react she felt a searing pain in her shoulder telling her that she had been stabbed in the shoulder by one of the prongs of the lance.

Weakly and letting out a low growl, she lunged at his leg, hoping to get some resistance in before she got tired. However, the soldier successfully got her off of his leg.

Thankfully, Willie had seen the scene play out from where he was casting spells at the enemy. Seeing Maria taking the hit, Willie's mind clouded with one thought; that he must save a friend of his at all costs. Taking this time to help the cat laguz, he summoned a fireball at the soldier, and when it sailed at the soldier and caused his armor to catch fire, Willie got Fiordiligi's attention very quickly. Wasting no time, the healer went up to Maria, bringing her staff up to the shoulder wound and watching as the light glowed above her shoulder, mending it very quickly. Before the soldier who had attacked Maria could do anything else, though, Byron's blade sailed through his neck, effectively cutting of his head and ending his life.

"There you go," said Fiordiligi quickly. "Be careful out there."

The cat laguz let out a satisfied growl before she ran behind the healer, jumping up and biting a soldier in the throat that had tried to gang up on the woman from behind.

Ike, meanwhile, was still busy chopping down soldiers when he came across a particularly menacing-looking soldier, imposing purple armor apparently hiding a rather large body behind it. The man's aged crimson eyes stared at the mercenary angrily, long black hair flowing down behind the armor and at the end of the rather large axe that he held.

"So you are the pestilence trying to keep those laguz troops alive," said the general curtly. "Very well. You shall die, then."

"We'll see about that," replied Ike, raising Ragnell high in the air.

The enemy general started by twisting around so that his axe got some momentum to hit the mercenary. However, Ike nimbly dodged the blow by quickly jumping to the side, smirking briefly as he brought Ragnell into a vertical slash meant to clip the man's chin.

What he did not expect was for the man's reflexes to be so good that he would be able to block the strike that Ike sent at him. However, their blades locked for just a second before Ike jumped back, flipping in the air and landing on the ground a few feet away, dashing at the evil general with a light gathering in his eyes as he sent a horizontal slash at the general. This, the general managed to block with one sweep of the hand, and Ike noticed a small bit of trepidation crawling into his enemy's eyes.

"Hm," said the general as he blocked a horizontal slash from Ike before going for another slam that missed, lodging the axe in the ground instead. "For one who defends these worthless laguz, you do have quite the skills."

Ike simply said nothing, instead preferring to jump back as the general pried his axe out of the ground and swung it in a wide circle. The mercenary went in for a dash shortly afterwards, locking blades with the general again and looking in his eyes.

"You have no idea," stated the mercenary coyly. The general threw him a confused look, the delay all that Ike needed to break the locking of the blades, a loud clang sounding in his ears as Ike turned around once, swinging the blade in a horizontal arc that penetrated the general's armor around the chest area, dark red slowly flowing onto purple as the general looked at the mercenary, amazed at what he saw in front of him.

"Indeed, quite the swordplay," replied the general, before picking up a different axe that was hiding behind him so that Ike could not see it.

The general tossed the hand axe at the mercenary, Ike reacting quickly and jumping out of the way. He was not fast enough to jump out of the way, however, for as he moved, the hand axe whizzed by his right arm, and suddenly Ike saw crimson flowing down that arm as he looked back at the general.

Ike shrugged it off, however, knowing that he had endured many wounds worse than that. Knowing this, he charged at the general again, who by then had picked his regular axe back up.

However, before the general could do anything, Ike feinted a horizontal slash to the midsection and as the general swung this axe to block the blow, Ike jumped out of the way and quickly rebounded towards him, resulting in a jumping slash successfully having Ragnell dig pretty far into the general's right shoulder.

Grinning, Ike pulled the blade from where it was embedded in the man's shoulders, just then noticing the battle around him beginning to wear down just a little as the remnants of the resistance were finished off.

"Doubt my skills now, sir?" asked Ike as the general fell to the ground.

The general muttered a few words before his crimson eyes closed to the world around him.

As Ike stood there watching the dead general, he failed to notice an untransformed Maria running up to him. Thus, he was greatly surprised when he felt himself get tackled to the ground, relieved to find the cat laguz on top of him.

"We did it, Ike!" exclaimed Maria happily. "We beat them!"

"That's great and all, but would you please get off of me?" asked Ike, finding the laguz' weight on him to be surprisingly heavy and finding it hard to breathe as a result.

"Agg!" shouted Maria, instantly stepping off of the mercenary in a second. "I'm sorry about that. Anyways, you would say that that was a pretty tough resistance, yes?"

"Fairly," replied Ike, standing back up and brushing some dust off of his shirt. "Except for some reason, this cut on my arm is the only wound I've endured this entire battle."

"Well, what do you expect?" asked Maria, taking out a pouch from behind her ear and opening it slightly. "You owned a pack of _tsotsis_, mostly without my help. You're just awesome like that, that's all."

"Thanks," said Ike as the cat rubbed the cooling salve of a vulnerary against the cut in his shoulder. "I'm glad you think that."

"Now, now, that does not mean we have to get full of ourselves," said Fiordiligi, causing the mercenary to jump slightly in surprise. Maria giggled at the mercenary's reflex, causing him to shoot a playful glare at the cat laguz.

"Yeah, Governor," came Willie's voice from behind Maria as the four of them congregated in their little group again. "At lest wiv dis we don't 'ave to worry none about dem blokes takin' over Geldor, we don't."

"Definitely not," said Ike. "At least this resistance was a little harder to kill, right?"

"Yeah," said Maria. "Now, where're Torzukel and Myriel so we can get going already?"

"Oh, there they are!" exclaimed Fiordiligi, pointing into the distance as Torzukel and Myriel reappeared from the thick curtain of fog separating the two groups.

"So, we have successfully waged our first battle on Jargon," said Torzukel. "There is no turning back now, Myriel."

"I know, father," sighed the prince.

"Yeah," said Ike. "Anyways, let's give the order to advance then, shall we?"

"Of course," said Myriel.

Ike walked forward again, the rest of the group following him as Myriel shouted directions for the victorious army of Galdor.

* * *

A few days later, and at least two more units of resistance as well, and the army of Galdor had a straight path to the capitol of Forgerat over a rather large stretch of relatively dry land. Almost everybody welcomed this change in climate, as the humidity was slowly beginning to aggravate them beyond anything else in the war. Beyond everybody welcoming it, however, the dry ground also lead to faster travel on their part since rivers were no longer a problem for speedy travel. Thus the group went, pretty confident in taking Jarden. And again, Maria stood by Ike, waiting to pick up the scent of any approaching resistance through the fog that somehow was still there despite all of the marching they had done.

Suddenly, Maria stiffened once again, Ike looking at her with a quizzical look on his face.

"Jargon again?" asked Ike.

"Yes," said the cat laguz. "But I'm not sure. I don't think I smell as much iron as I should."

"Okay, then," said Ike, keeping Ragnell on his shoulder and walking forwards.

After walking a few yards, however, she immediately stopped.

"Wait a minute…" she began. "I smell feathers."

Ike stopped walking, and with him the advance of the rest of the army of Galdor stopped as well. Torzukel walked towards the two of them, a puzzled look on his face.

"Stobin?" asked the king.

"Probably," said Maria, looking up into the fog.

A few minutes passed before the cat laguz saw something in the fog that nobody else was able to see.

"Hey!" she exclaimed gleefully. "What do you know? It is Stobin!"

And before Ike could ask anymore questions, another army emerged from the fog slowly. This army bore a strange kind of white armor, and Ike was able to see the tell-tale white wings of the heron laguz coming forwards from behind the fog. At the head of the fog was a withered old beorc man with a long grey beard that went down to around his chest and a young female heron whose wings shone with a strange kind of brilliance even though the fog obscured the sun. Standing next to the female heron was a raven laguz, and no sooner had Ike seen him than he knew who he was.

"Gaston!" exclaimed the mercenary loudly.

The raven, upon seeing the mercenary through the fog, jumped up in glee and ran forward.

"Ike! Maria!" he shouted, finally ending the run by tackling the two people he called out to the ground and giving them a ferocious hug. "You two are alive!"

"An' so er we, Governor," said Willie, who, along with Fiordiligi and Byron, had walked up to the three of them as they lay on the ground.

"Good to see you're still kicking, Gaston," added Byron as Gaston stood up, a huge smile splayed across his face.

"So, where might Despina be?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Mistress Fiordiligi!" yelled a female voice from far away. It was then that the blonde noticed her short housemaid running to her in a combination of glee and anger, holding up her short black dress as she ran to her master.

"Despina!" said Fiordiligi. "You're all right! What happened in Jericho? What of Don Alfonso and the two suitors?"

"I take it Gaston told you about Dorabella, then," said the maid, giving a quick hug to Fiordiligi when she approached her. "Well, Alfonso was taken as a prisoner of those Jargonese bastards, and the two suitors were killed."

"Killed?" asked Maria. "Thank goodness."

"Thank goodness?" asked Fiordiligi, angrily turning to face the cat laguz. "True, they may have been cold and heartless for my feelings, but that does not warrant them a death sentence!"

"Maybe it does," rebuked Despina, holding a finger up in the air. "Maybe it does, after I tell you that your suitors were really your Guglielmo and Dorabella's Ferrando in disguise!"

"Wet?" asked Willie, stepping back a little. "Wet 'appened?"

"I agree with Willie," said Ike. "Why would they do a thing like that, anyway?"

"Does the allure of money sound good to you?" asked Despina vehemently. "That masochist Alfonso convinced them that Fiordiligi and Dorabella were just like all women!"

"'Just like all women'?" asked Byron, crossing his arms in front of his body. "In what sense?"

"That all women are faithless, fickle louts!" replied Despina, angrily throwing a hand out.

"What?" asked Fiordiligi, stiffening and her voice filled with rage. "Who does he think he is, branding us women faithless just like that?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Maria in agreement, raising her fist in the air in protest. "We're not all faithless louts!"

"I don't know!" replied Despina. "But that is not quite the point here. Anyways, he made your two lovers place bets on your fidelity, and then they pretended to go off to war!"

"Somehow, I expected that," said Fiordiligi. "But not deception of this degree! Oh, damn all three of them to the fires of hell!"

"But it gets worse," said Despina. "Guglielmo in his disguise was trying to woo Dorabella, and Ferrando you."

"And they even extended the infidelity to another party," said Byron, rubbing his chin. "Dang."

"And that is all?" asked Maria. "Why were you a part of it, huh? You were just as guilty in trying to get Alfonso to win his part of the bet as the two suitors were!"

"I wasn't given the whole story!" exclaimed Despina. "When Alfonso approached me about the two suitors, he just told me that they were two men who wanted the ladies' attentions, and that he would offer me fifty gold coins if I helped them woo the ladies! I really thought they were suitors! I even plotted the whole poison incident for them, and I still didn't know the whole story!"

"Wait," said Ike. "That poison incident was bogus?"

"Couldn't you tell?" asked Despina, voice rising angrily as she began jumping around in her rage. "That wasn't arsenic in those vials; that was a sleeping potion! I almost considered disguising myself as a doctor before remembering that Fiordiligi could heal people! And even with that cunning plan, I _still_ didn't know about his plans! I didn't know until I overheard that bloody masochist talking with the two suitors in private! Dorabella slapped both Ferrando and Guglielmo really hard when she found out!"

"And it is right that she did!" responded Fiordiligi, barring her teeth in her rage. "That masochist will not be getting any mercy from me the next time I see him!"

"And no mercy from me either!" added Maria. "I can't stand that son of a bitch anymore!"

"Uh, should I mention he's not here?" asked Ike.

"No!" replied both of the women simultaneously.

"At any rate, we shouldn't be plotting revenge here," said Gaston. "We really need to set up camp like the rest of us are doing right now. And also, for council."

"That's true," said Ike. "So, let's put our anger aside for now, okay?"

"Of course," said Maria, calming down instantly.

"What?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Viordilegi," said Willie, placing a hand on hers to calm her down. "We kin wait fer it, roight?"

"I guess," said the blonde, her shoulders slumping down in defeat. "Yes. We really do need to set up camp."

"Well, then let's go!" said Byron.

The seven of them went over to the rest of the army, who had already begun to set up camp, and Ike picked up the tent materials and began setting up the tent.

* * *

In the war room, once again Ike and the group were sitting somewhere, Byron sitting next to Ike and Torzukel and Myriel sitting at the front of the room. Next to the king of Galdor was the rather old man from the day before, and sitting next to him was the female heron that was standing next to Gaston the day before. Ike was ready to assume that the old man was Chancellor Hargeld and that the heron was Prime Minister Cecily, so as the old man stood up he did not really think introductions were necessary.

"Well, good day, sirs," began the chancellor. "It is good that we came together at this time. Torzukel, have you stormed the capitol yet?"

"No," replied the king of Galdor. "We were headed there, however."

"Excellent," said Cecily. "We stormed the capitol yesterday."

"Oh, relly?" asked Willie, loud Cockney accent causing Myriel to shake his head. "Aw, dat ain't fair fer de rest ef us!"

"Yeah, but it got the job done," said Byron. "So we've got good hands on Forgerat now."

"We need to do a sweep as we go north, but otherwise, we should have Forgerat back," said Hargeld, nodding slightly.

"Okay," said Byron, nodding his head. "Now, next order of business; where do we go from here?"

"That's a good question," said Ike. "I say that we go to Gardelia from here."

"Gardelia?" asked Cecily, placing a thin hand over her breast. "Dear me, that might not be such a good idea. I would rather attack Jargon first and then radiate out onto the two remaining countries myself."

"But how do you know the Jargonese won't pull another escape on us the way they did when we last tried to attack them?" asked Gaston, pointing at his hand to demonstrate his point.

"She does have a point, though," added Maria. "I mean, that warp gate that was at Florenjal should have broken when we used it to get to Galdor."

"Precisely," said Cecily.

"I don't agree with that, though," injected Ike, standing up slightly and pointing at the map. "If instinct tells me correctly, we could be attacked from two sides at the same time, and if these Jargonese armies are as strong as I think they are at this point, we could get beaten back and surrounded at the capitol again. And this time, there'd be no escape."

"That is true," said Myriel. "Maybe we should work from either Tardal or Gardelia."

"Tardal is not very safe, though," injected Hargeld, rubbing his bearded chin as he thought. "They can still surprise us from the Isle of the Ancients. I say that Gardelia is a safer bet."

"As do I," said Torzukel in agreement.

"I just hope we don't have to go through the rainforests," said Maria nervously. "Because then we have to deal with bandits who know the forests better than we do."

"But let's not lose hope," said Gaston, raising a finger up in objection. "Those bandits may just want to help us. I mean, technically, they are laguz, so if Jargon wants to try to kill them they could enlist our help."

"So then we'd have more men to work with then?" asked Ike. "I don't trust those _tsotsis_, but it sounds like a good idea."

"Indeed," said Torzukel. "So do we agree on going to Gardelia or not?"

"Agreed," said everybody else.

"Good," said Torzukel, nodding in approval. "So then, let us prepare to march on Jarden, shall we?"

"Of course," said Byron, standing up. "This war room session is adjourned."


	10. Chapter 10: Hearts of Gold

Well, guys, here I am again.

And this is the last chapter before I go off to Eastern Music Festival again! Joy!

So you know the rest. Here's the chapter.

Oh, and by the way, I've seen plenty of people alerting and faving this fic. Please, if you're going to do that, leave me a review so I know how you feel about this fic. Please?

Here's the chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_**The armies of Stobin ensure that Forgerat is retaken, as they managed to take back the capitol of Forgerat.**_

_**In the war room, the combined armies of Galdor and Stobin agree to head northwest to Gardelia in the hopes that the **_**tsotsis** _**will be willing to help them in their fight against the people of Jargon.**_

_**Thus, the armies move north towards Gardelia, sweeping Forgerat of the remaining Jargonese troops as they slowly gain on the border between Forgerat and Gardelia.**_

_**When the two armies finally pass the border, they find something very shocking lying in front of them…**_

Chapter 10: Hearts of Gold

"Holy…"

"I ken't believe dis! Whet 'appened?"

"Unthinkable…"

"Who would want to do this?"

The army looked in front of them, disbelief showing blatantly on everybody's faces.

They had just reached the foot of the rainforests, only to find that the once majestic rainforests of Gardelia were no more.

In front of them lay a terrible sight to behold; thousands of tree stumps stood on the ground where majestic trees once stood, the ground around the stumps nothing but brown and beige soil surrounding each stump. Burned foliage lay on the ground everywhere, the black carbon just beginning to turn into a disgusting black mush at the foot of each stump.

It was a horrible sight to everybody that was there. The once mighty rain forests of Gardelia had been reduced to nothing but stumps and a ground covered with charred remains.

"Why…?" asked Gaston, shaking his head in disbelief. "Why would they burn these forests down?"

"Those bastards!" exclaimed Fiordiligi angrily. "How could they?"

"Truly a disgrace to themselves," added Hargeld, shaking his head sadly. "Why they would destroy such a wonderful place is beyond me."

The army stood in silence for a short time, Ike staring at the remains of the forest blankly. Never had he seen such a sight since the soldiers had been petrified by Ashera's divine light, and yet somehow he felt somewhat desensitized by having seen every single soldier in Daien turned into stone. Still, this did not stop him from being amazed at the audacity of the Jargonese.

The mercenary stood there, however, letting the shock fade away into any other emotions that could be felt.

A shocked silence pervaded the area for a while, nobody daring to move. Finally, Gaston looked at Ike, noticing him standing there with Ragnell still slung over his shoulder.

"Damn it, Ike!" said Gaston, walking up to the general, his gait somewhat sloppy from rage. "Have you no feelings for these people?"

"I've seen an entire world get turned into statues before," replied Ike, smoothly. "This is still quite shocking, but I've seen worse."

"Hm…" said the raven, rubbing his cheek thoughtfully. "You do have a point, I guess…"

"Should we get moving here?" asked Maria, who was also then walking up to the general. "We aren't getting anything done here, you know."

Ike looked forward, eyes staring at the open space of tree stumps ahead of him.

"You're right," he said, and with this he pulled Ragnell off of his shoulders and towards the heart of Gardelia.

"Well, men, let's keep walking!" shouted the mercenary. "Let's show these Jargonese who's boss!"

A general roar went out from the men behind him, and as soon as Ike had stopped shouting he marched forward, the armies of Galdor and Stobin following him soon afterwards.

* * *

All around them, stumps of burnt trees lay around them, giving a very unsettling effect to the army as they walked forward. Most of them could not help staring at the charred remains of the rainforests as they walked forwards. Even though they had seen the stumps several days in a row, the shock of it all was still not fading away.

And on top of it, they had not run into a single _tsotsi_ like they had hoped they would. Instead, they kept marching past burnt stump after burnt stump as they marched forward, sidestepping everything in their way as they marched.

Ike was still wondering what could have made the Jargonese burn the entire rainforest when suddenly a chirp was heard from above him. He looked up, and no sooner did he look up than he saw Bonnie flying back from taking a daily patrol over the area near them. Willie ran up to Ike as he heard the linnet bird, and when Bonnie landed on his shoulder she started chirping a little bit.

"So no Jergenese, eh?" asked Willie? "Anyvin' else?"

Bonnie let off a trill and a few chirps afterwards, Willie looking at Ike when the trill finished.

"She says dat dere be some laguz a'ead," he stated, simply.

"_Tsotsis_…" said Ike. "Can they understand our language?"

Bonnie chirped once, Willie taking note of the sole chirp she gave off.

"No, Governor," he translated.

"Well, we'll just go ahead and meet them first," said Ike. "Get Maria and Gaston over here, please."

"Yes, Governor!" said Willie, who then ran back to join the rest of the army. Seconds later, the cat and the raven ran forwards, walking in step with Ike.

"So, you need us to help negotiate with the _tsotsis_, then?" asked Gaston.

"Probably," replied the mercenary. "But only if they're willing to talk. What language do they speak in?"

"They tend to speak in grunts and howls," said Maria. "I could probably translate it, but it would probably come out extremely broken anyways."

"Well, it's better than nothing," said Ike. "So both of you stay by my side. Okay?"

"Got it," said the two laguz at the same time, looking forward to see for any sign of the _tsotsis_.

The group kept walking forward, and eventually, Fiordiligi and Willie both walked up to the rest of them, looking around as they marched forwards.

Eventually, Maria froze in place, Ike and the rest of the army stopping in place with her.

"They're coming," said the cat laguz, tail beginning to swish around just a little bit in agitation. "Fast."

"Indeed they are," said Fiordiligi, spotting something in front of them. "Look!"

In the distance, a group of twenty cat laguz was seen running towards the army in their transformed states, every one of them deftly leaping over the burnt stumps as they raced for the army. They travelled quickly towards them, stopping their run when they were right in front of Ike's little group, all of them quickly transforming to their human states to reveal several cuts and burns all over many of them. Fiordiligi gasped in horror at what kind of terrible wounds they had inflicted, and she was even more horrified that their faces were so haggard from lack of food. She would have fainted, but the feel of Willie's hand on hers steadied her enough not to get sick.

The one immediately in front of Ike was probably the one in the worst shape out of any of them; he had one huge burn over his right arm, a smaller burn on his left foot, and a rather large cut on his forehead. Before anybody could do anything else, the laguz in front of Ike growled almost inhumanly.

There was a short silence, Ike looking around at all of the injured _tsotsis_ as Cecily walked forward, dainty white wings barely touching a burnt stub as she walked.

"My goodness…" she said. "Somebody must attend to those wounds immediately."

The leader of the pack growled again, staring wildly at Cecily.

"Uh…" said Maria nervously. "I think he's asking if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

There was a very awkward silence after Maria said this, the tsotsis shifting around a little bit in anxiety.

"Well, are you going to reply or not?" asked Ike finally.

"I don't know how to answer back though!" said Maria.

"But you said you could translate it!" rebuked the mercenary angrily. "What's this about not answering back?"

"I meant for us to understand!" said the cat laguz, throwing her arms in the air. "I don't know how to tell them anything!"

"Well, don't just stand there!" said Gaston loudly. "Think of something! Body language, random grunting, I don't care! Just use it already!"

Maria stood there nervously at first, wondering what she could do.

She then pointed at Fiordiligi's staff, and then, walking up to the lead _tsotsi_, pointed at his scar with her hand suddenly retreating with a gesture that said that the scar would somehow disappear.

The other laguz growled angrily, proceeding to point at Ike and Ragnell, giving successive growls of indignation.

When he stopped, Maria stared at the other laguz, her face showing mild shock.

"Uh…" she began. "Apparently, that wasn't the question. The question was whether you were the big beorc man with the orange blade."

"Um… yes," said Ike, figuring that was what the laguz was talking about.

Maria nodded to the other laguz.

As soon as she stopped nodding, the _tsotsi_ grunted softly, pointing at everybody that was behind Ike with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Uh, yes, they're with him," said Maria, nodding her head at the leader.

The other cat laguz bent down on his knees in front of Ike, his hands held up as if he was making a prayer with a pleading look in his eyes. He let off a few low-pitched howls as everybody else sported puzzled looks on their faces.

"Wet in deh world is 'e sayin'?" asked Willie, his hands falling on his hips rather quickly.

"Uh… I think he's asking for your help," said Maria. "I don't know what the howls are supposed to mean…"

"Probably that their people are being prosecuted," commented Fiordiligi, one hand on her hip with the other arm dangling loosely by her side. "I hope the prosecution is not as bad as I think it is…"

"Well, what are the conditions?" asked Ike.

"Conditions?" asked Maria suddenly, staring at the mercenary with her eyes conveying a rather large amount of annoyance. "How the hell am I supposed to translate _that_ into body language?"

"Uh…" said Gaston.

"I will be back in a minute," said Cecily, quickly retreating away from the group in the direction of Hargeld.

A few minutes, Cecily returned carting a rather huge stack of gold with her. Thankfully for Maria, this ended her several minutes of trying in vain to explain conditions using a variety of bizarre body positions

Upon seeing the gold, the _tsotsi_'s eyes widened and seemingly instantly got what Maria was trying to say. They pointed frantically at the gold, their faces widening and the _tsotsi_ nearest it taking a gold coin or two from the pile.

"Uh, I think they want some gold," said Fiordiligi. "How much?"

Maria went over to the gold pile, took out twenty gold coins, and then put them in one large pile on the ground. She then took one gold coin, throwing an inquisitive glance at the _tsotsis_ and hoping they were figuring out that she was asking them how much of the pile they wanted.

One of the _tsotsis_ that was close to her shook his head, and when she showcased five coins next, he also shook his head. Finally, Maria showcased fifteen coins, and then the _tsotsis_ were nodding happily.

"Okay, three quarters of the gold?" asked Ike. "I think we can manage that."

"My only question is this; how are they going to take it with them?" asked Cecily.

"We'll figure that out when we get there," said Gaston. "For now, we make the deal."

"Gotcha," said Maria, looking at Ike as he nodded at the _tsotsis_.

Upon seeing Maria nod, they started howling in glee, the leader actually going so far as to jump onto Ike and pull him into a hug.

Ike's cheeks turned a slight shade of red as he felt how tight the laguz' arms went around him. Besides the fact that they were both men, it was extremely awkward for the mercenary to have somebody he just met hugging him as if he was a lover.

"Hey, Ike," said Gaston, sniggering just a little. "Looks like you've got somebody."

"W-what?" asked Ike, his cheeks reddening even faster than they had before. "B-but I'm not that kind of guy!"

"I don't think that he agrees with you," teased Maria, who started sniggering as well. "You're a man-magnet!"

"Oh, please, this is not a matter to tease him about!" said Fiordiligi. "Besides, this is neither the time nor the place to be doing so."

"And it's deh rong ding teh get at 'im about, too, mu'um," added Willie.

The _tsotsi_ that had hugged Ike finally let go, and nodding, he pointed at a random point in the distance.

"Uh, what's he pointing at?" asked Ike.

Maria, holding her hand over her eyes to block it from the now-unbearable sun, looked to find smoke rising from the earth.

"It's a Jargonese camp," said Maria.

"Oh, so these men are helping us too?" asked Cecily daintily. "Oh, how wonderful!"

"Well, it gets the sweep done," said Ike. "Come on. We should get going."

The mercenary pointed his weapon up towards the sky again, and this time, the army wordlessly followed him, the _tsotsis_ prancing around behind him excitedly.

* * *

The army marched ever closer to Alexandra, the _tsotsis_ proving to provide valuable information on the new lay of the land. They were able to tell Ike where every enemy camp was so that they could take out each unit before word could reach the other units of the army, which greatly increased their chances of taking the capitol of Gardelia back again.

And now, the group was able to tell the rise of slope in the land that came just before they reached Alexandra. Ike smirked faintly at this, knowing it was only a matter of time before they retook the capitol.

However, just before they were able to reach the crest of the valley, the _tsotsi_ leader who had been so helpful suddenly pulled at Ike's sleeve, prompting the mercenary to stop as the male laguz pointed at something in the distance, afterwards cupping his hands in a strange shape that seemed to make a circle.

Maria, who had been standing next to Ike when this happened, gasped lightly, hand covering her mouth.

"Uh, I think he says that the Jargonese are building something over that way," said Maria quite simply. "Something that looks like a circle."

"Could it be a warp gate?" asked Ike.

"I think," said the female cat laguz in response.

There was a momentary pause as Ike considered the situation quickly.

"We need to destroy it, then," said Ike. "Byron! Torzukel! Gaston! Willie! Fiordiligi!"

At Ike's summon, all five of the aforementioned individuals stepped forward, all of them standing in front of Ike.

"Willie, Fiordiligi, Gaston, and Maria; you're coming with me," said Ike quickly. "Byron, I'm putting you in charge of the army until I get back."

"Should I lead the charge into the capitol?" asked Byron quickly.

"That would probably be a good idea," said Fiordiligi. "Except how do we synchronize the attacks?"

"Why would we need to synchronize the attacks?" asked Torzukel. "You five go with the _tsotsis_ to destroy the warp gate, and the rest of us will attack the capitol city in the same day. We will wait for you to return to move on to Jargon itself."

"All right," said Ike quickly. "So are we clear on what we need to do here?"

"Yep, Governor!" exclaimed Willie, taking out his tome and nodding.

"Okay, we'll go first," said Ike. "Show us the way."

Maria nodded at the _tsotsi_ leader, who promptly smiled and walked in the direction he had pointed at, being mindful not to transform so that the three beorc in that group could follow him past the burning tree stumps. The other nineteen _tsotsis_ that had been with the army the entire way followed Ike and the four people he had chosen to go with him.

"Yeh no, Governor, I den't see wy dey all 'ave to come wiv us," began Willie as soon as they started moving.

"Maybe the Jargonese made slaves of all of those poor unfortunate souls," said Fiordiligi.

"That makes sense, but let's not get our hopes up," said Gaston. "Anything can happen."

"Whatever," said Maria, brushing the topic away with a hand gesture. "Can we just follow these guys here in peace?"

Nothing much else was said the rest of the way.

* * *

About thirty minutes into the journey they found themselves going up a hill. Upon approaching this hill, the _tsotsis_ crouched on the ground and lay down on their stomachs. Ike looked at the rest of the group, figuring out what they needed to do.

"I think we need to get to the ground here," said Ike, getting down on the ground so that he laid flat on his stomach.

"Oh, dear…" said Fiordiligi as they all got down on the ground.

"This isn't gonna be pretty…" added Maria.

After the cat laguz said this, everybody began crawling forwards with their arms up a slope of land. This of course took longer, but when they reached the crest of the hill they could see why they needed to stay close to the ground.

For just down the hill, they saw the tell-tale signs of a warp gate being built out of white stone, the tall circle standing half-finished in the sunlight. Around the warp gate's area, there was being erected a somewhat large dome, the walls of it just having barely been built. And hard at work building this warp gate was a rather large group of _tsotsis_, all of them bound to the ground with ropes around their heels and all of them working ever so hard at moving huge blocks of marble over to where the warp gate itself was. Around them were Jargonese people in full armor, holding weapons and not hesitating to use their weapons on the half-naked natives of the rain forests if they dared dawdle in their business.

Ike looked at this array along with the rest of his group before they ducked down behind the hill again, looking at the rest of the group.

"Yes, it's a warp gate," said Ike. "And there are _tsotsi_ slaves all over the place."

"Oh, damn it!" said Fiordiligi. "Why do they not just decide to revolt in their laguz forms?"

Maria looked at one of the _tsotsis_, transforming and un-transforming rapidly, pointing at the slaves beyond the hill through the earth of the very hill itself and shrugging her shoulders as if to ask something.

The _tsotsi_ she looked at shook his head, clasping his hand around his wrist several times.

"Oh, so they used those bands," said Maria, nodding. "Serves them right after all the times they used it on laguz travelers!"

"Maria, please," said Gaston, gesturing to her to calm down. "We don't want these guys on our bad side…"

"So wet d'we do ferm 'ere, Governor?" asked Willie.

"We free the slaves and break the warp gate," said Ike. "Simple."

"But how do we go about doing that?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Hm…"

Nobody said anything until Maria looked at the sun as it slowly dipped towards the earth.

"Torzukel said they would wait for however long it took, right?" asked the cat laguz.

"Yes," replied Ike.

"Wet ef it?" asked Willie, quietly as he could.

"Then we'll attack under the cover of the night," said Maria.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Gaston, shaking his wings a little to get some dirt out of the feathers. "My only question is, what do we do?"

"We start with the guards, of course," said Maria. "And when we've freed all the slaves, we go about destroying the warp gate."

"Sounds fine to me," said Fiordiligi, facing the sun as well. "How much longer?"

"Until nightfall," said Maria. "We'll attack when the sky is black."

"Gotcha," said Ike.

And they all watched as the sun descended slowly towards the earth, seemingly burning the already burnt tree stumps as the sky turned a bright shade of orange.

* * *

When night fell, Maria got onto her feet, slowly creeping towards the other side of the hill. Ike, Willie, Fiordiligi, Gaston, and the leader of the _tsotsi_ group that had originally led them to the site of the warp gate were creeping towards the enemy camp. They had finally decided on a two pronged attack against the Jargonese, with Ike and his small group on one side of it and the other nineteen _tsotsis_ hiding behind the warp gate itself, ready to rush in if anything went wrong.

And so, Ike's group crept forward stealthily, trying to find a vantage point from where they could attack the guards from. There were at least thirty guards there around the area in front of the warp gate, all of them asleep with all of the slaves sleeping on the ground, somewhat tranquil expressions on their faces at having been given solace from their work. The group was able to tell it was a solace rarely given to them at all; their faces were too peaceful, as if they had not slept for days. It was so bad that even when Ike stepped next to the ears of the sleeping _tsotsis_ they did not stir at all.

Maria stopped at a certain point, dangerously close to a sleeping guard and noticing the flasks of drink that surrounded him. Clearly, these guards had had too much to drink.

The cat laguz motioned Ike to come forward, the mercenary moving forwards as silently as he could, Maria gesturing him all the way to the enemy guard.

When Ike was standing right next to the enemy guard, the mercenary hesitated, Ragnell resting on his shoulder as he looked to Maria for guidance. When she nodded, Ike took a deep breath, brought his foot back, and with all of the power he could muster, kicked the guard really hard in the side.

This sent the aforementioned guard reeling back, but instead of instantly tumbling for his weapon, he looked at the group drunkenly.

"'hic' Ey, whaddye think yer doin' here?" he asked loudly, speech slurred by alcohol.

Ike and Maria took one look at the rest of the group before they turned their attention back to the drunken man.

"Yer goin' down!" shouted the guard, standing up drunkenly as the other guards slowly awoke.

Fiordiligi slapped herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Oh, bloody hell!" exclaimed the woman angrily as the other guards grabbed their weapons. "We are fighting drunkards? Oh, dear…"

"Guess again, woman!" yelled a guard from the other side of the field that was obviously not drunk. "You're gonna die today!"

Before anybody else could do anything, Ike grabbed Ragnell hard, and as the drunken guard swung towards the mercenary, he dodged the drunken guard easily and slashed at him, successfully scoring a hit and causing the drunkard to emit a groan of pain as the blood began to seep down his belly.

"Oh, dear, Governor," said Willie, charging up a fireball. "'Ere come de rest ef 'em blighters!"

As soon as he said this, the Cockney boy let fly his fireball, scorching and setting fire to the armor of a guard that was running towards them quickly. As he writhed in pain, the remaining guards rushed their positions.

However, the four guards closest to the warp gate were instantly taken out by the now-transformed _tsotsis_ that had been hiding behind the warp gate, fangs glistening in the star-lit night as they tore away at their opponents' flesh greedily.

Maria and Gaston both transformed quickly, the raven taking to the skies as Maria ran straight for the guards immediately ahead of them. At around this time, the prisoner _tsotsis_ began to wake up, and no sooner had they opened their eyes than they found the rather rude sight of a guard being torn to pieces by a cat laguz entered their vision. They all turned their heads at the sight of a scream, overjoyed to see a rather large raven laguz impaling a guard with his beak quickly before flying away.

All of the slaves suddenly stood up, clamoring against their restraints.

Ike had by then cut down two more guards that had rushed him, Willie having let loose another fireball and the leader of the _tsotsi_ group that had led them there having transformed and run to free his _tsotsi_ brothers.

And poor Fiordiligi stood there, feeling absolutely useless until a cry from the Cockney boy sounded in her ears.

"Willie!" she yelled, panic sweeping in her mind as she ran down to the fallen teenager to find a very deep slash across his brown pants.

"'Elp me…" said Willie almost urgently, clutching his leg where a rather deep lance gash lay.

Before Fiordiligi could react, she heard a grunt behind her, and then a corpse fell beside where Willie laid, a lavender blur flying past the two.

With this distraction out of the way, she brought her staff to the leg, and as the staff lit up. Willie watched in relief as the woman mended the wound.

Just after Fiordiligi finished mending the wound, however, she heard the sound of somebody tripping behind her and found a guard almost on the two of them. As panic rose in their beings, Fiordiligi stepped out of Willie's way as he charged up a fireball just above his being.

The guard, being the fool he was, jumped straight into the fireball, and he struggled to get out of his armor, screaming like a maniac the entire time and illuminating the scene rather well.

Fiordiligi looked over to see that Ike was having a somewhat difficult time fighting the guards, and when she looked closer, she saw a pretty deep wound on his sword arm. Not hesitating, she ran over to the mercenary as Willie let a fireball fly at the man that had been attacking Ike up until that point.

The fireball did not do much, but thankfully Maria dashed right at that man and all of the others that were rushing at Ike, so Fiordiligi was able to keep a clear head as she ran up to the mercenary and held up the staff to the wound in his sword arm.

"Hold still," the woman instructed, Ike obeying as the wounded tissue mended itself.

When the light from the staff finally faded, Ike looked behind Fiordiligi, preparing for a rather large swing of his sword arm.

"Duck!" he yelled quickly. The woman wasted no time in getting to her knees on the ground, and Ike swung his sword in a wide arc that managed to inflict a very deep chest wound on a guard who had thought to sneak up behind the couple. Ike then tossed Ragnell into the air, leaping high into it and slashing straight through the middle of another soldier who had been running towards Willie, effectively cutting the guard in half as Willie sent a frantic fireball at another guard.

Gaston, Maria, and the _tsotsis_ tore most of the remaining guards to shreds, and when they transformed back to their human states, there was a loud cheer from all of the former _tsotsi_ slaves that had worked on the warp gate, the howls flying through the air with a thousand little needles. The group regrouped as the just-freed slaves were found happily crowding around them. Ike looked at Maria and the rest of the group, and everybody nodded in unsaid agreement to what was about to take place.

"Let's tear down that warp gate!" shouted Ike suddenly, pointing a finger at the structure that the slaves had worked so hard to erect and had been a cause of bitterness for everybody.

The rest of the night was spent with Ike and his friends watching the _tsotsis_ tearing the warp gate down, the marble falling to the earth with the bitterness of a huge group of natives behind every tumble of rock. And when it was all over, the natives danced around the ruins of the warp gate with zest in their features.

* * *

The _tsotsis_ walked the group back to Alexandra the next day, a service that Ike was grateful for.

When they reached the valley that led to the capitol, the group stopped briefly to catch their breaths; it had been a long, fast walk, and when untransformed that distance could take quite a bit out of anybody.

Ike said nothing about this as he and Maria looked out onto Alexandra, noticing the flag of Galdor flying from the castle's flag post. As they admired this sight, Willie and Fiordiligi walked up to them.

"So dey did it, eh?" asked Willie.

"Despite the fact that he is a pervert and a freak, Byron really does know how to handle wars," said Fiordiligi. "Let us go back there."

Gaston walked up to them and nodded.

"But what about these guys?" asked the raven, gesturing towards the _tsotsis_ behind him. "Without them, we couldn't have taken Gardelia back."

"That's true," said Ike, turning to them.

The leader of the _tsotsis_ walked up to Ike, holding his hand out for the mercenary to shake as he smiled broadly. Ike took this hand, shaking it well.

"…" began the leader, trying to get intelligible syllables out of his throat. "Thank… you…"

It came out in very broken English, to be sure, but all the same the profound nature of the thanks got to everybody.

Ike simply pounded his free hand against his heart, pointing at the _tsotsi_ leader as a sign of acknowledgement.

Without further ado, the leader of the _tsotsis_ walked towards his clan, and then they retreated into the distance, transforming as they did so.

"Hey!" said Fiordiligi, this thought suddenly violently pulling her from her admired state. "Did they get their reward or not?"

"We'll have to ask Cecily," said Maria, foot tapping on the dry earth. "But you know what? I think these guys are just happy enough with their lands back. I oversaw some stuff last night, and I think they might have refused their reward."

"It's so ironic," said Gaston, wings beating in the air. "I mean, here we go, talking about them like they're the worst things in the world, and yet they're just as human as the rest of us. What the hell are we thinking?"

"Well, I dunno, Governor," said Willie. "Anyways, we best be gettin' back."

"Willie has a point," said Fiordiligi. "We need to rejoin our army."

"Sure," said Maria. "Let's go."

The group descended the valley towards Alexandra. However, just before he descended down the valley's side, Ike could not help stealing a glance at the direction the _tsotsis_ had run off in.

Maybe they were not so bad after all. Maybe living in these forests was a difficult thing to do. There was so much thought going through the mercenary's head that he finally settled with being content with how happy they were to have their lands back.

Ike eventually felt the pull of Maria's arms on his sword arm, and holstering Ragnell over his shoulder once again, he looked down the valley towards Alexandra and walked towards there, a smile playing on his lips.


	11. Chapter 11: The Greater Evil

Hello, all. This is me, reporting from Greensboro, North Carolina with the Eastern Music Festival! Joy!

Anyways, I get to do some great stuff. 1812 Overture, Rhapsody in Blue, some crazy-ass shit by a Chinese guy by the name of Bright Sheng (and I'm not kidding when I say 'crazy-ass', either), and finally, the Prokofiev 7th. Fun times, I tell you. Fun times.

And here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_**With the help of the embittered **_**tsotsis**_** that were rendered without a home by Jargon's brutal war tactics, the laguz armies have a very easy time of running around Jargon's numerous armies, eventually disposing of every Jargonese unit that rests at the capitol and even destroying a warp gate that was being constructed close by the capitol.**_

_**The army now heads west, hoping to take out the main center of operations of the entire beorc invasion at Florenjal. This time, Ike is confident that the beorc will not find away around their march, as their only warp gate was destroyed by the last time Ike and his army used it.**_

_**And so the army marches out to Jargon, the bells of victory sounding so close, yet so far at the same time.**_

_**But the true story behind the war has just begun to unravel…**_

Chapter 11: The Greater Evil

Ike walked in front of the army once again, looking out onto the plains in front of him with Ragnell once again slung over his shoulder.

They were two nations away from having retaken the entire continent of Greljedo. Ike knew that once they had taken back Tardal, the Jargonese menace would be over.

But somehow, he still felt that there was more to the story than was being told by certain people. He had no idea what that part of the story was missing, but he figured there was something wrong.

Maria, who had been standing next to Ike almost the entire time he had led the laguz armies, was able to sense this, but she kept her sense to herself most of the time, preferring not to bother Ike with her questions at all. However, after a while, she found she was unable to be insensitive to the questions that were going through Ike's head.

"Is something up?" asked Maria, turning her lavender orbs to face the mercenary.

"I just don't think this is the end," said Ike. "True, we will get the continent back, but somehow, that isn't the end of it."

"Well, of course it isn't," said the cat laguz, looking forward and gesturing with her hands. "I mean, we will have to find a new ruler for all the laguz nations, and we'll have to figure out how to get peace back. So it won't be over at all."

"That's not what I meant," stated the mercenary. "I mean that there will be more fighting after we take back the rest of the continent."

"Jargon," said Maria simply. "We'll have to deal with more Jargon. Is this another of your infamous nagging doubts?"

"Probably," replied Ike, winking at Maria as he walked. "I don't know myself what else is at steak."

"We'll find out when the time gets there, I'm sure," said Maria. "You know, Ike, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?" asked the mercenary.

"You know how the laguz were held as slaves for several hundred years in Tellius?" asked the cat.

"Yeah," replied Ike. "What's that got to do with anything here?"

"You don't think that'll happen here, do you?" asked Maria, almost innocently.

The beorc paused for a second, walking as he figured out how to voice his thoughts in his mind. When he finally got some words together, he faced Maria.

"I don't think so," said Ike. "You guys have had too long a peace to start with slavery now. You know? I don't think that it will last long at all, or that it will ever happen at all to begin with."

"Thanks," said Maria. "I'm just… scared, you know? It scares me to think about all of those whips and all those other things."

"Nothing to it," said Ike. "You know, you've been a great friend to me all this time."

"Hey, I just like you is all," said Maria, playfully punching the mercenary as she said this. "You're… different. In a cool way."

Ike smiled, amused at the cat laguz' joke.

"Thanks," said the mercenary. "I'd say the same of you."

Maria simply nodded.

"You know, I will have to go off again once this conflict is over," said the mercenary a few minutes later.

"I really don't care much about that," said the cat laguz, nodding. "I'd like to go with you, actually."

Ike looked at Maria, his eyes expressing some shock at what she had just suggested but nevertheless keeping a kind of cool around his figure.

"But Maria, you know that I'm—" began Ike, before he lost his wording as Maria interrupted him.

"Oh, don't worry about that," said the cat laguz. "I just want to stay close to you. You know? Besides Gaston and Kuranga, you've been one of my closest friends. And somehow, I feel I've told you more than I've told anybody else."

Ike looked forward, nodding as Maria made her point.

"In that case, I don't see why you can't come," said Ike. "Actually, maybe the others might be willing to come with me too."

"Oh, that would be great!" said Maria, suddenly striking a pose as she walked. "The Tellian-Greljedian Super Team!"

Ike laughed at Maria's joke as she posed once again, the mercenary still walking towards the capitol of Jargon with the rest of the army following his lead.

* * *

Before long, Ike found himself looking at the familiar walls of Florenjal once again, his army halting in their advance as he stood there looking at the situation. Maria, Willie, Fiordiligi, and Gaston all stood next to the mercenary as he surveyed the walls and their numerous guards. Byron, who had been surveying the city from a different angle, walked up to Ike, nodding quickly.

"It's exactly how Hargeld pictured it," said Byron. "There are very few watchmen. If we surprise them at night, we might just be able to get them."

"That's good," said Ike in reply. "Then tell the army we'll wait for nightfall before we attack."

"Okay," said Byron. He then proceeded to march straight to the leaders of the nations, telling them what was happening.

"So Maria told us about your desire to leave once you have left," stated Fiordiligi once Byron was out of earshot.

Just a little startled by the woman's comment, Ike turned to face her.

"So she did, huh?" asked Ike.

"Yep, Governor!" exclaimed Willie. "Yeh don't seem teh be very mad about it, dough."

"I kind of expected it, though," replied the mercenary, driving Ragnell into the ground and leaning against it as he talked. "I mean, we have been around each other almost all the time."

"Yeah," agreed Gaston, pacing around the group as he spoke. "Ever since Jericho, we've been the best of friends. I don't see why we shouldn't be allowed to tag along."

"Neither do I," Fiordiligi added.

"It's crazy," said Maria. "We really don't know what to expect out there, and yet somehow, I think we'll carry through together."

"So is it settled then?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Are we goin' tegever?" asked Willie, leaning in towards Ike.

"Of course," said Ike. "I think we'll have some great times together."

"Great!" said Gaston, pumping a fist in the air as he stopped walking. "I call first dibs on everything!"

"Aw, dat ain't fair, Governor!" retorted Willie with a playful anger. "Give de rest of us people somevin', too!"

"Aw, you know you can't match up to my awesomeness!" replied Gaston, beginning to dance around just a little in jest.

The Cockney boy shook his head in pretended anger, everybody laughing as the fake argument continued.

* * *

The moon shone once again over the landscape, and Ike was hard at work hacking down enemies that were rushing towards them in the cramped streets of Florenjal. Willie stood behind him, casting a stray fireball when the situation called for it and with Fiordiligi just trailing behind him in case Ike was injured. Maria was in her transformed state the entire time, jumping on the enemy when she saw fit to do so, Gaston hovering high above and giving the enemies ahead of the rest of the group a piece of his mind.

All around the city, small groups of laguz units were running around, performing a sweep on the capitol of Jargon the way they should have been able to do when they had arrived at the nation's capitol the first time. They fearlessly killed every last Jargonese unit in the way of their march towards the capitol, and in some cases the units got to mow down the enemy brutally with their claws and their fangs and their beaks and whatever else they used to tear down the enemy. As they advanced ever closer to the palace of Florenjal, an air of victory was very certain for the armies of Galdor and Stobin.

Ike was cutting down enemies with a determined set to his jaw, but as he cut the enemies, he could not help but notice a rather large thing in front of the palace.

Willie saw it too, and upon seeing it, he looked to Bonnie (who was still perched on the boy's shoulder as he walked) and nodded. The linnet bird took to the skies, and as Willie launched another fireball with a zesty yell, Bonnie got a good look at their enemy.

When Bonnie landed back on Willie's shoulder, she proceeded to chirp as loudly as she could against the deafening sounds of battle, the Cockney boy somehow hearing her as she chirped.

"Whet?" he asked confusedly as soon as he had let another fireball fly. "Whaddye mean, yeh don't no wet it is?"

"What do you mean?" asked Fiordiligi, who had come to stand next to the boy as soon as she had stopped healing a rather large gash that was on Maria's shoulder.

"She says did dere's somevin a'ead," replied Willie. "Bet she don't know wet it is!"

Ike cut through another enemy, and when the two magic users realized they were being left behind by the rest of the group, a wave of panic washed over them, Willie preparing another fireball and launching it as they ran to rejoin their friends.

"What do you mean, she does not know what it is?" asked Fiordiligi.

Before Willie was able to reply, Ike had stopped, and in his moment of abstraction Willie bumped into Ike rather hard, falling to the floor as he suddenly looked up to see one of the most bizarre sights Willie had ever seen.

In front of them stood a huge monster, its skin purple and toting the not altogether pleasant stench of rotting flesh. It balanced precariously on two small legs, its very rotund body swaying to and fro from the power of its own gait, and Ike noticed that it looked as if the monster could lose his balance any second. Its balance was apparently not being helped by the fact that its head lay on its shoulder, almost as if there was a tight cable wrapped around the head and the shoulder so that the head stayed attached to the shoulder for all eternity.

The group stared at the monster as it walked about, and when a group of laguz walked towards it, the creature suddenly lurched forwards, intentionally losing balance. As the squelch of men being crushed reached their ears, the creature rolled back onto its legs, and thus continued walking around strangely.

Fiordiligi had cringed upon hearing the men get crushed to death by the monster, almost everybody else in the group doing likewise. When they noticed the monster crushing another group of laguz, Ike turned to his group.

"Well, this isn't like anything I've ever seen…" he said quickly. "Uh, Gaston?"

"Do I have to distract that thing?" asked the raven.

"Yes," replied Ike. "It'll keep the rest of us from getting under that huge belly."

"Yeh want me teh send Bonnie in dere too, Governor?" asked Willie, the linnet bird looking like it was ready to fly off of Willie's shoulder.

"Uh, sure," said Ike.

"Okay, then," said Gaston. "See you guys after this thing stops rolling around!"

With this, the raven ran forward, transforming quickly and taking to the skies even faster as Bonnie flew off of Willie's shoulder and into the air.

As Gaston dove at the creature, it lurched forwards once again, dodging Gaston's dive at it and crushing yet another group of laguz at the same time. Willie prepared a fireball, and as Ike ran forwards, Maria transformed and leapt onto the rooftops of the city.

The monster noticed Ike's presence, but as it lurched forwards to roll over the mercenary, Gaston dove straight at its head, grazing it just enough that the path was altered, the monster barely missing Ike as he ran away as it rolled to a very abrupt stop by a building.

The monster than rolled backwards, and when it went past the mercenary this time, he swiped at it with his sword before it rolled back onto its feet.

Willie chose this time to launch his fireball, and so he let out a determined yell he pointed his hand at the monster, sending it rolling back. Fiordiligi, who had been standing next to Willie the entire time, winced a little at hearing the squelch of people getting crushed by it.

"Willie!" yelled the woman as she looked at the Cockney boy wildly.

"I diden't mean teh, mu'um!" replied Willie exasperatedly, preparing another fireball.

When the monster rolled back, however, Maria had traversed the buildings such that she was where the monster had rolled back onto the people. Without much of a disturbance, the cat laguz lunged at the monster, effectively ripping a rather large shred of flesh from the neck before a lavender mass darted back into the shadows to continue her pursuit.

The creature reeled for a second before its skin suddenly turned a slightly different shade of purple. And of course, the only one who noticed this was Maria, her lavender eyes peering into the night to see this.

Before she was able to do anything, though, the monster began to roll, ricocheting off of one of the buildings to roll in Ike's direction. A wave of panic struck Ike as he began running towards the nearest alleyway as the creature rolled closer.

However, before Ike could get crushed, he felt something carry him into the air, something hot passing behind him as he looked up to realize that Gaston had grabbed Ike by the shoulders with his talons and had flown off with him. The raven dropped him off next to Willie and Fiordiligi, and the mercenary took his time to shake his limbs as Gaston went for another dive that missed.

"Oh, dear…" said Fiordiligi. "Ike, are you sure you can do this?"

"If I didn't think I could, I'd do it anyway," said Ike simply. "Willie, cover me!"

Willie nodded quickly, charging up another fireball quickly as the monster rolled around some more, Ike poising to run at the monster with Ragnell at the ready.

When Willie had the fireball fully charged, Ike frowned, concentrating on his target as Fiordiligi held a hand over her mouth in uncertainty about what was going to happen.

When the creature rolled close enough, Ike nodded, his grip on Ragnell tightening.

"Now!" yelled the mercenary as he ran forwards, approaching the rolling monster fearlessly.

The Cockney boy pointed at the monster, and the fireball that he had summoned went straight for the monster, diverting its course. As the monster rolled at a certain angle, Ike tossed his sword into the air, and it did a few flips as Ike jumped up to meet it. When the mercenary had grabbed his sword, he flipped once or twice before slamming onto the ground and effectively slicing through the rotund body of the monster.

The monster kept rolling away as Ike landed. However, as soon as the mercenary was on the ground the group heard the monster roll towards him, and Ike felt the sickening feeling gather in his stomach as he realized it was rolling towards him. With nowhere left to run, he stood there, closing his eyes as he waited for the end to come.

However, the rolling abruptly stopped, and when Ike opened his eyes he stepped back upon noticing Willie standing in front of him, summoning the largest fireball the Cockney boy had apparently ever conjured, the monster almost leaning against it as the stench of charred flesh slowly came to his nostrils.

"Willie!" reprimanded Ike. "What're you doing? You could—!"

"I no det, Governor!" shouted Willie. "Jest let me do dis!"

Ike said nothing at first, but he finally relented.

Willie and the monster battled for balance in front of the Jargonese palace, Willie concentrating almost all of his willpower on keeping the monster at his fireball. Slowly, however, his efforts began to pay off when monster's flesh was so charred that it was finally set on fire.

With a determined yell, the Cockney boy finally released his fireball, sending the monster reeling the other way as he collapsed from the sheer force of everything that he had done, and as Fiordiligi dashed to Willie's side, Ike promptly tossed Ragnell at the creature, nailing it straight in the face as Maria jumped from another rooftop and ripped the creature's neck right out of its body.

As soon as the fatal injuries were delivered, the monster suddenly transformed into nothing but a puddle of blood, the blood coming together in the air to form a strange flaming symbol that glistened red in the moonlight. Ike barely had time to memorize the symbol before the entire thing crashed onto the ground below in one huge splash, forming a large puddle of blood in front of the palace.

As groups of laguz warriors came forwards, Ike said nothing, panting for a little as he fell onto his knees. Finally, he turned to face Fiordiligi.

"He should be fine," said the healer, panting as if she had just been scared senseless. "He will not wake up until tomorrow morning, but he will live."

"That's good to hear," said Ike. "What was that thing?"

At this time, Gaston touched back to the ground, transforming into his human form as he did.

"I don't know," said the raven as Maria ran up to them and transformed as well. "But whatever it is, it's not good."

There was a brief silence before all eyes turned to face Maria who, despite the fact that her body and clothes were covered in blood from not getting out of the way of the splashing blood fast enough, was paler than the moon that shone above them.

"Maria?" asked Fiordiligi. "Are you feeling well?"

For a while, nothing was said.

Finally, Maria stared blankly at Ike as more groups approached them.

"We need to talk to Torzukel," said Maria. "Don't ask. Just, we need to talk to him."

"Okay," said Ike. "We'll talk to him in the morning."

"Now," insisted Maria, her face still pale. "I can't wait for the morning."

"When he gets here then," said the mercenary.

The cat laguz decided not to contest against that, and so the group stood out, waiting in front of the palace for the king of Galdor to arrive.

* * *

As soon as Torzukel arrived nearly ten minutes later, he found a giant puddle of blood laying around the palace, with Fiordiligi fanning Willie's face, Ike and Gaston just staring into nothing, and Maria glancing around like a paranoid woman. Cecily and Hargeld both followed the king of Galdor towards the palace. As soon as Maria saw the three of them, she ran to Torzukel, giving a quick bow.

"You should've seen what was here just now," said Maria quickly, Ike walking up so that he was behind her. "It was some weird monster…"

"Really?" asked Hargeld, his head leaning to the side. "I should wish that it was not so."

"That is true," said Cecily, nodding slightly as her long blonde locks fell about the sides of her face. "But you did defeat it, yes?"

"Yeah," said Ike. "The one who can talk to the linnet bird is out, but he'll be awake in the morning according to what our healer here said."

"That is very good," said Torzukel. "Then where is its body?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you!" exclaimed Maria, wildly grabbing his arms with a death grip and staring the man down hard. "It burst into blood! And that blood did… Stuff... I don't know! All I know is that it formed the symbol of the Ones-Who-Must-Never-Be-Mentioned before it splashed onto the ground!"

Torzukel reeled back, the shock showing in his golden orbs as the cat laguz let go of his arms. Cecily looked at Maria with a kind of shock on her face, and Hargeld raised his brow curiously.

"Ones-Who-Must-Never-Be-Mentioned?" asked Ike, looking at Maria with a genuinely confused look on his face. "What's that?"

"Oh, dear…" said Cecily. "You know not who they are? Somebody must have told you by now, I am sure."

"I've never heard of those people," said Ike plaintively as he put one hand on his waist.

"And I hope you never have to hear of their atrocities," said Hargeld simply. "They are a terrible cult, and their name must never be mentioned."

"But how do I know its name, then?" asked Ike, tilting his head to the side. "I certainly don't know what it is, or ever of what it did. And why can't they be mentioned anyway?"

"So nobody cared to tell you the true history of the continent of Greljedo then?" asked Cecily.

"Apparently not," said Ike. "I thought the fact that you guys were out of wars for one hundred years was good enough, but now I run into this stuff. What happened?"

"The goddess Sharotal was a peace-loving goddess, sister of the equally kind goddess Ashunera," said Torzukel as the group of them walked to the palace. "They both ruled over the continent of Tellius for a long time with the—"

"Zunanma, right?" asked Ike, interrupting the king's story abruptly. "Let me guess. The laguz and beorc split, the great flood happened, Ashunera split up into Ashera and Yune, and when all that happened Sharotal was greatly saddened and left the continent of Tellius?"

"How did you know all of that?" asked Hargeld, surprise showing on his features as they all walked up to the palace of Florenjal.

"Long story short, Ashera was the goddess I defeated," said Ike. "I found out all about the history of Tellius while I was siding with Yune. Anyways?"

"Oh, yes," said Torzukel, coughing a little to clear his throat. "Sharotal took a small force of beorc and laguz with her, all of whose names became the founders of each nation; Gardelia, the dragon queen, Jargon, the beorc king, Tardal the lion emperor, Stobin the heron prince, Forgerat and his men of cats and tigers, and Galdor, the branded king. With these and a somewhat small group of laguz and beorc, Sharotal set off, and found the continent of Greljedo."

"Okay, I understand that part," said Ike. "So why's this cult such a problem?"

"There was nobody settled on Greljedo when Sharotal and the people she had gathered first landed," said Torzukel as they stopped at the gate to the palace. "However, there was only a very powerful demon that lived on the Isle of the Ancients in north-western Tardal who waged war on Sharotal for getting in his lands. Eventually, the six heroes defeated the demon, but before anything else happened some of the original members of the force that defeated him had a seed of the evil demon planted in their minds."

"Really?" asked Ike. "Is there anything else about this that I should know?"

"This demon was the cause of a huge mass extinction before Sharotal came to Greljedo," added Cecily. "At least, that is how the legends go."

"Oh, dear," said Ike, shaking his head slightly. "I can see why this cult's such a problem then. I guess the cult are all of those people that are ancestors of the guys that had the seeds of the demon planted in them?"

"Yes," said Torzukel. "If this symbol appearing here shows what I think it does, I hope that Sharotal wakes up…"

"Sharotal?" asked Ike. "She's asleep too?"

"Yes," said the king of Galdor. "She went into a deep sleep after that demon was vanquished, and she now rests in Stobin, the land founded by her dearly beloved heron prince. Cecily is her ancestor."

"What?" asked the mercenary, jumping in surprise at Torzukel's comment.

"It is true," said the heron. "I am the one who can wake her in a time of dire need with a galdr passed on by my ancestors."

"Okay," said Ike. "So should we take Tardal?"

"I know not what may happen next," said Hargeld. "But perhaps we should take Tardal."

"Agreed," said Cecily fairly quickly. "I do wonder, though; however did a simple cat laguz know about the symbol?"

"I've been an assistant to a seer for all of my life!" exclaimed Maria angrily, finally saying something and turning on Cecily wildly. "How do you think I know that symbol?"

"Oh," said the heron, stepping back at Maria's reaction to her sentence. "I do apologize, madam."

"Oh, thank you," said Maria, instantly taking a look of pomp on her person and grinning with pride at being called a madam.

"So let us go inside, shall we?" asked Hargeld as they looked at the gate to the palace.

"Sure," said Ike, nodding as he talked.

The rest of them nodded, pushing the door open and walking into the palace, Torzukel taking out the flag of Galdor and preparing it to be hoisted onto the palace's flagpole.


	12. Chapter 12: Blackheart

Well, guys, here I am again.

And there's a huge plot twist and enough denouments here for an entire conference. Stuff is revealed, the shit hits the fan, and before we know it we're in another typical FE style quest to get the mystical crap. You'll see what I mean.

Oh, and since there's a plot element taken from _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_:

I do not own _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_. It belongs to George Lucas and Paramount Pictures.

You know the rest? Okay, then I'll just get the good stuff going here.

* * *

_**Florenjal was retaken by the laguz armies, and this time the Jargonese did not get out of the way to trap their opponents in the city. Now, only Tardal remains, and the laguz armies know that it will be an easy victory when they arrive in Tardal.**_

_**However, Ike and the leaders of the nations that still lack Jargonese occupation were given a shock when they found cult activities behind the creation of a monster that guarded the Jargonese palace from every trespasser. Torzukel fears the worst for Greljedo now, and as the group marches on Tardal's capitol of Mesgarel, it becomes increasingly apparent that there is something secret that the king of Galdor will not say about why the cult initiated the war.**_

_**Ike gets suspicious of Torzukel's silence, and when the army reaches the outskirts of Mesgarel, Ike decides it is time to investigate this cult…**_

Chapter 12: Blackheart

"Okay, so what did that symbol look like?"

"It looks like a flame, and there's some kind of marking in there. Nobody knows what that marking is. But that marking is supposed to show who is behind all this."

"All right, then. Let's get started."

Ike turned down to look at the symbol the way Maria had sketched it.

Ike had sat on the ground, Maria kneeling next to him with Willie, Gaston, and Fiordiligi all surrounding him as he examined a piece of paper that Maria had drawn the cult symbol on. The flame was there, a very tiny symbol etched into the flame's cone that Ike had not noticed on the blood symbol several nights ago. They all looked at the flames, their eyes trying to decipher any meaning in the symbol at all, the canvas walls of the tent almost trapping them in their small space.

"So we have a flame here," began Fiordiligi after a few seconds. "So that could mean a number of things. It could be the fires of hell. It could be a symbol of the need to have power. It could be a sign that they will not stop until they get their goals."

"We've known that much," said Maria. "The only question is, what's that small symbol?"

"I don't know, Maria," replied Gaston, rubbing his chin after a few seconds of close inspection. "It looks kind of… weird…"

There was a small silence, all of them thinking.

"Maybe I might know the symbol," said Ike. "Maybe it's something that only I know about."

"But you can't see that symbol," said Maria. "It's really tiny, and only laguz can manage to see it."

"I don't know," said Ike. "It looks like a bird."

Fiordiligi hummed for a second, Gaston looking at the symbol carefully.

"Not even close," said the raven. "It looks more like a circle."

"Circle," stated Fiordiligi, shaking her head to get a few curls of blonde hair out of her face. "A symbol of being all-powerful, perhaps?"

"Could be," said Maria. "These guys have plenty of charms they use."

"Dat ain't de problem," said Willie, holding a finger out to make a point.

"He's right," said Gaston. "The question is not 'what it means'. The question is, 'who does it trace to?'"

"Some speculate it could be the mark of the brand," said Maria.

Gaston hummed before staring straight at Willie, a small light appearing in the raven's eyes as he looked at the Cockney boy.

"Willie, can we see your mark?" asked Gaston.

"Sure, Governor," said Willie as he began to roll up the right sleeve of his shirt. "Jes' don't get yer 'opes up."

And without any other comments, Willie rolled the sleeve of his shirt all the way up to his shoulder, and upon seeing the mark, Gaston frowned at the bird-like shape that was imprinted forever on the ball of Willie's right shoulder.

"No, that's not it," said Gaston. "It's more rounded."

"Well, can we get some ideas here on how to identify it?" asked Fiordiligi, her impatience clearly showing in how her feet fidgeted.

Maria stared at the symbol within the flames once again.

"Maybe Ike's right," she began. "Maybe he is the only one who can identify it."

"But he can't see it," insisted Gaston, smashing his fist into his hand.

"Den maybe yeh kin make it bigger fer 'im, yeh can," replied Willie.

The raven regarded Willie's suggestion with a brief silence, followed by a nod quickly afterwards.

"You know something?" asked Gaston as he turned around and grabbed another paper and a quill from behind him. "You're right. Let's see what I can do."

And with this, the raven set to work on drawing the figure, glancing back every so often to make sure he got this detail or that part of the circle right before nodding and returning to his work. It took him around seven minutes or so to draw the symbol, and when he did he laid that paper on top of the flame that was sitting in Ike's lap.

As the mercenary examined the circle with sixteen points inside the circle, Ike felt something familiar about the symbol. He felt like he had seen it before, and yet, he was not able to remember where he had seen that symbol before.

"Any luck?" asked Maria.

"I recognize it," said Ike, nodding slightly. "I don't remember what it was on, though."

"Well, that is certainly better than nothing," said Fiordiligi.

"Yeah," said Gaston. "It'll come to you eventually."

"I'm kind ef scared, Governor," said Willie. "Whet if dis 'cult' or wetever yeh call it goes all angry-like?"

"Don't worry about it," said Maria. "It probably won't happen."

"But it is an evil force we speak of here," said Fiordiligi. "And these men want to resurrect it."

"Then who's leading it?" asked Gaston.

"That's what I wanna know!" said the cat laguz, her tail swishing violently. "Thank you, captain obvious!"

"Hey!" shouted the raven laguz, pointing at Maria in a manner suggesting that he was offended. "Don't call me that! You know how much I hate being that?"

"Well, it's true!" replied Maria, standing up and nearly hitting Ike in the knees as she stood. "And you know it damn well!"

"What?" asked Gaston, leaning back as he stood and gesturing widely. "So you're saying that I can't voice anything here?"

"It's not my fault there's an evil cult going around!" shouted Maria loudly. "And I'll be damned if they actually do what they want!"

"Will you two just be quiet?" asked Fiordiligi, anger beginning to show in her face as Willie cringed with each successive sentence. "It is bad enough there is an evil cult that is apparently trying to raise a demon from the dead! At this rate, your argument will just cause this guy to wake up faster!"

There was something in Fiordiligi's comment that sparked something inside of Ike, and before anybody could tell anything, he abruptly moved, holding the sheet of paper Gaston had drawn up closer to him and examining it again, his eyes widening in shock.

"Oh, dearest Yune…" said Ike as he slowly stood up, the others instantly quitting their argument as they surrounded him. "I remember where this symbol is from now! This was what was on Lehran's Medallion!"

"As in, det ding deh gentelman used teh keep dat Yune lady…?" asked Willie, his words trailing off midsentence as he held the syllables of the word 'lady'.

"Sealed?" asked Fiordiligi, completing Willie's sentence for him.

"Yes," said Ike.

"Wait," said Maria, her cat ears perking up as she looked at Ike. "Who was the one who created the medallion?"

"A man by the name of Lehran," said Ike quickly.

"What do you know of his history?" asked Maria, bouncing up against Ike in a frantic manner.

"He was a heron laguz," replied Ike, beginning to feel just a little unsettled at Maria's behavior. "He gave birth to the first branded on Tellius."

Maria looked at the rest of the group, her eyes quickly scanning the room as she saw the expressions on everybody's faces.

"It has to be somebody from Galdor," said Maria. "It has to be."

"Wet?" asked Willie. "But yeh can't say dat!"

"She can," replied Fiordiligi. "Galdor's kings are descended from herons."

"Is that what Torzukel's keeping quiet about?" asked Gaston. "I'll bet it's him that's part of this piece of crap cult!"

"I suspect it is Myriel," stated Fiordiligi. "Torzukel seems too virtuous for—"

Before anybody else could say anything, the tent flap opened to reveal Cecily.

"Are you all right in here?" asked the heron.

There was a complete silence amongst the five that were actually in the tent, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of everybody's faces as they saw Cecily standing their.

"Uh…" began Maria as her mouth hung agape.

"Yeh, we're good, mu'um," said Willie, who was the only one who kept his composure when Cecily walked in on their argument.

"Well, all right, then," said the heron simply. "I am just reminding you that we march in an hour."

"Oh, thanks," said Ike.

"You're welcome," said Cecily sweetly before the tent flap closed, and the five of them were left alone.

"We'll talk about this again sometime soon," said Ike. "For now, let's pack the tent."

There was a general consensus of agreement, and the group walked out of the tent shortly afterwards.

* * *

Mesgarel's towers stood majestically in the distance, the moon shining off of the silver roofs of the palaces with a kind of radiant beauty not often seen in most structures. The silvery moonlight rained down upon the somewhat featureless land of Tardal, shining onto the spot where Ike and Byron were both standing, admiring the moonlight.

The two of them were without their weapons, the items having been discarded in the camp as the two of them had gone to survey the city just for the heck of it.

Byron looked forward, hazelnut eyes staring into the distance before turning to Ike.

"You know?" asked the general. "It's funny. Here I am, hoping to be an average general, and yet I'm caught up in all of this stuff that's going to be retold in legends some day."

"I know how it feels," said the mercenary in reply, azure orbs facing the general. "After all, I did have to defeat a goddess. I kept on getting that feeling all the time."

"I'd imagine," said Byron "So, you have any doubts about what is going on?"

"Of course not," said Ike.

"So that evil cult that you guys found isn't scaring you?" asked Byron. "I'd be very scared if there was an evil cult, you know."

"Why?" asked Ike.

"They do things…" said the general, gaze averting towards the moon and a slight cringe working its way into Byron's muscles. "You wouldn't want to know. Trust me."

"Well, I'll trust your judgment on that," said the mercenary, nodding slightly as he spoke. "I don't think they'll wake up that demon."

"Neither do I," said Byron. "But anyways, this night is pretty damn beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yeah," said Ike.

"I hope that all those women are ready for me," said the general. "Because I'm ready for them!"

"Oh, Byron…" moaned an annoyed Ike, slapping himself in the face and shaking his head. "Don't you ever learn it's not about the women?"

"Hey, I love women!" retorted Byron, slightly offended at Ike's behavior. "What can I do?"

Before Ike was able to reply, the sound of something zipping by them came within their hearing range, and when they both turned their heads, they found Willie panting with Fiordiligi next to him, the two of them both stopping to catch their breaths.

"What happened?" asked Byron, the two soldiers immediately running up to the Cockney boy and the lady and leaning on their knees for support.

"You better… get her… fast…" said Fiordiligi, panting powerfully.

"It's dat… bloomin' cult agin," said Willie, panting softly. "She went right an' went wivout us, Governor."

"Wait, that cult?" asked Ike.

"She said… they were in… the area…" said Fiordiligi, slowly regaining her composure after having had to run so fast.

"Oh, dear," said Byron. "This we've gotta see."

Without further ado, he hoisted Fiordiligi so that she was resting against his back, his hands firmly on her legs to keep her balanced on his back.

"Ike, get Willie," said the general. "We've got to follow her."

Ike knelt down on the floor, Willie still having the energy to leap onto Ike's back as the mercenary took hold of his legs. Without wasting any time, Ike and Byron both ran off in the direction that Willie briefly indicated with a quick point of the finger.

The two of them ran off. As soon as they had climbed up a mountain's side, they found Maria kneeling on the ground close to a ledge in her human state, ears perked as she listened in from her perch on the downward slope that the land formed. Ike and the company approached quickly, Byron slipping just a little and sending some gravel tumbling down and giving themselves away to Maria, who turned abruptly to face them.

"Maria!" said Byron. "What are you—?"

"Shh!" Maria quickly put a finger over her mouth, silencing them. When she got the desired effect, she gestured them to come forwards, Ike and Byron both going close to where Maria was and getting on the ground as Willie rolled right off of Ike's shoulders as they laid on the ground.

"It's the cult," said Maria, pointing at what lay below them.

And indeed, there was a huge group of people down in the valley below them, all of them gathered around one rather large area, torches lighting the edges of the rather close group as they beheld an altar in front of them. Mad chanting filled the air, and as the figures danced around the altar a single man in a thick black cloak came forwards, holding a bundle in his arms.

"What's that?" asked Ike.

Maria's eyes widened in shock as she beheld the bundle in the man's arms.

"Oh, no!" said Maria. "It's one of Mercedes' babies!"

Ike instantly stiffened, and before the rest of the group was able to ask exactly what was going on, the chanting stopped altogether, the man approaching the altar and laying the baby on it.

"Oh, no, dis ain't good…" whispered Willie as the man raised his arms high.

The man who had laid the baby on the altar suddenly jerked his arms upwards in a heralding position as he began to speak.

"Brothers!" he addressed the crowd. "We have almost accomplished our goals! Before the next day is out, we will have finally awoken the true master of Greljedo!"

A general shout came from the group below.

"We shall do him well," said the man who was making the speech to the crowd. "And we shall not fail him!"

Another roar sounded below, and Fiordiligi looked at Byron strangely.

"What kind of madness is this?" asked the lady. In response, the general put a finger to her lips as the furor died down.

"But to make sure this happens, we should engage in the ritual," said the man. "And here, we have the sacrifice, ready to be made!"

As a general roar went throughout the crowd, Fiordiligi shook her head, tears almost coming to her eyes.

"'Secrifice?" asked Willie, being the only one in the group who was still calm through the man's last sentence. "Wet's dat?"

Nobody answered his question, for they were all too surprised or too shocked at the implications of what 'sacrifice' constituted.

"Let us begin!" he shouted.

As a general roar rang throughout the valley once again, the crazed dancing and chanting resumed, turning into a macabre procession as the man wearing the black cloak began to chant in a strange language loudly, his voice thundering over the footfalls and the mad chanting that surrounded him on all sides.

"What is this?" asked Byron under the chanting. "What's going on?"

"I don't know…" said Ike, looking down at the mass of followers of this demonic cult.

This chanting went on for about three minutes, and the five of them just continued looking down. And when the chant finally ended, all was silent, the baby's crying being the only sound that was audible as the cloaked figure raised his hand high in the air, his fingers clawing into a somewhat open fist.

Before anybody had any time to figure out anything, the hand went down suddenly, plunging into the baby's tiny body, its scream of pain indication enough that it was going through extreme pain.

At this point, Fiordiligi was disgusted beyond relief, and so as not to give them away, she turned around, the tears of horror streaming down her cheeks as she looked up at the stars. Maria grabbed her own heart, everybody else cringing as the hand worked inside of the baby.

The screams of pain continued when the hand seemed to grab a hold of something within the baby's body, and a second later, the hand retreated again, and it pulled the baby's heart out of its body. The heart beat rabidly as the blood trickled down the figure's arm and into the black cloak.

A general roar sounded as the group backed up on the ledge, horrified by what they saw. Maria and Willie were both beginning to feel the urge to vomit, the only thing keeping that urge from taking a real manifestation was the fact that they had retreated farther behind the rock face than anything else.

However, Ike noticed something about the baby that nobody else cared to notice.

"It's still alive!" he observed, and when the group tuned in carefully, they were able to hear the baby's cries against the crowd, the two sounds clashing for dominance in the night sky.

There was no time to think any further, for the man brought the heart down to his face as the cheering continued. After admiring the heart for a second, the figure brought a hand to his cloak, pulling the hood back and revealing that he was somebody the group knew all too well.

"What in…?" asked Byron. "What's he doing here?"

"Oh, I knew it!" said Maria, resisting the urge to point her finger at the prince's silver hair. "I knew that son of a bitch was involved in this cult!"

"Guys, will you calm down?" asked Ike.

Before anybody was able to reply, Willie cringed, making the rest of the group turn just in time to witness their acquaintance bite down hard on the baby's heart as it beat, the baby emitting a louder scream of pain and the rest of the crowd cheering. The group cringed, and while Fiordiligi was still staring at the stars the mere images popping into her head were enough to make her sick.

"Oh, dear…" she said weakly. "I want to go back!"

Nobody said anything as their acquaintance took another bite out of the baby's heart, Willie finally losing the will to stay as well.

"Eh, Governor," began the Cockney boy. "I dun dink I kin take dis!"

"Will you be quiet?" asked Byron severely. "You'll get us caught at this volume!"

The man in the black cloak swallowed the remaining piece of the heart whole and amidst the cheers of everybody in attendance at this ritual, the altar suddenly burst into flames without any prompting from any of the people there. The entire valley was lit, and when Fiordiligi looked behind her, she found the side of the mountain was lit by the massive bonfire that the cult was now dancing around.

"Oh, no…" said the lady. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Byron, looking back and seeing the light on the mountainside, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," he said. "Let's get out of here before these guys notice we're here."

They were a little tense as they crawled on the ground of the mountain, nobody daring to look up in fear that a body part would light up against the back of the mountain. The atmosphere around them was tense, everybody wanting not to get caught amidst the cult's activities and not wanting to be put through whatever inhumane tortures awaited them there.

After a few minutes of trying to navigate the floor of the mountain, they were finally out of range of the light, and when Maria noticed this, she stood up, helping Fiordiligi to her feet as the rest of the group stood up, all of them breaking into a run to get as far away from the mountain as possible.

A few minutes later, they were back outside of the camp, and they had to take deep breaths before Maria looked at them.

"Damn it…" said Maria. "He was part of this cult all along."

"Explains why he was such a bastard to us in the beginning," said Byron in reply. "But what's a guy like him doing there?"

"I don't know," said Ike.

"Dat ain't importent, Governor," said Willie, shaking his head quickly. "Wet're dey troin' teh do wiv us?"

"Willie's right," said Byron. "What are they trying to do?"

"Oh, damn it…" said Fiordiligi, wiping the sweat and tears that had gathered on her face. "I wish I knew!"

"So that's why all those murders have been happening…" said Byron, changing the subject quickly.

"Murders?" asked Ike. "You mean, the murders that were taking place in Jargon?"

"Yes, those," said the general, turning to face Ike. "All of the victims of those murders were missing their hearts or some other internal organ, and they were all burned to a crisp afterwards. And now that we see this, we know where those body parts are and how they got completely burned."

"Well," said Fiordiligi, brushing some dust off of her white dress. "If you ask me, I found that to be the most revolting thing one could see."

"I agree, Fiordiligi," replied Maria, brushing the dust off of her own garments. "Oh, I hope Kuranga's okay."

"Keranga?" asked Willie, emerald eyes turning to glance at the cat laguz. "Wet's 'e got teh do wiv dis?"

"I think he might be their prisoner," said Maria. "Think about it. We have no idea what's going to happen now. This could have been avoided if Kuranga had just stayed with us. But no, that evil cult wouldn't hear of it."

"So you're thinking that's why Kuranga disappeared back in Jericho?" asked Ike, walking so that he was next to Maria.

"Yes," said Maria, nodding as Ike approached her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," said the mercenary, patting Maria's shoulder, caring sapphire gazing into frightened lavender as the cat laguz turned to face him. "If what I'm thinking is right, that cult is using Kuranga to tell the future. It's against his will, but the important thing is that he's still alive."

"You're right," said Byron, nodding as he walked up to the two of them. "It's not like these types that kidnap people are trying to kill everyone they meet. If they find somebody useful, they'll threaten them with death if they don't do something for them. He'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, guys," said Maria, head leaning against the muscles of Ike's chest as she pulled the mercenary into a hug, Ike wrapping his other arm around her in reply.

"Uh, I den't want to get in no talks 'ere, but I dink we better get into our 'ouses," said Willie, pointing at the distance.

"Willie has a point," said Fiordiligi. "We do not want to get caught out here, even. We need to get to the tents as quickly as possible."

"You're right," said Maria, breaking away from the embrace she was in. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"We'll see you then," said Ike, waving goodbye.

The group returned to their respective tents shortly afterwards, having gotten in and closed the tent entrances just as Myriel walked back into the camp calmly, his eyes scanning the camp and seemingly making sure nobody saw him get back to camp.

* * *

Willie was probably the last person in the army to wake up, for he woke up to being shaken by somebody by the shoulders.

"Wake up!" came Fiordiligi's voice, and finally, Willie's emerald eyes opened to the world.

"Wet?" asked Willie.

"We are marching in ten minutes!" said Fiordiligi.

The lady's words snapped Willie out of his semi-sleepy state, and he bolted upright in his bag, staring at her with wild eyes.

"Yer kiddin' me, mu'um!" he shouted, instantly jumping out of the bed and feeling around for his shirt.

"No!" said Fiordiligi. "We should get moving."

"Acterally, Viordilegi, I wanted teh ask yeh about somevin'," said Willie as he found the shirt and tugged it over his head.

"What is it?" asked Fiordiligi, eyes still on the Cockney boy as he changed in front of her.

"D'ye dink dat de gentelman will get us fer last night?" asked Willie as he pulled the shirt down onto his body.

Fiordiligi stood completely still, considering Willie's question as he bent down and grabbed two magic tomes from the corner.

"I honestly have no idea…" said the lady, Willie studying the thunder tome that he had received from Torzukel after they had taken over Florenjal again quickly before holding it by his side.

"Den wud yeh stay wit me?" asked the Cockney boy, taking her hand roughly in his as he asked the question. "I don't dink I'd be foine not teh no were yeh are."

Fiordiligi looked down at the ground for a split second, considering Willie's question briefly before looking up to him.

"Of course I will," said Fiordiligi. "You have been a great friend to me; how can I turn you down at a time like this?"

"Dank yeh kindfully, mu'um," said Willie. "Now let's go an' show dem Jergons 'ow we're doin' today."

"All right," said the lady as her friend led her out of the tent into the world outside to find the army amassed and almost ready for the march on Mesgarel.

Fiordiligi and Willie looked at each other before they nodded, the two of them heading towards the front of the army in their resident position behind Ike.

As they were filing through the army, they found all of the sovereigns of the nations close to the army, Maria and Byron both standing by Ike with Gaston standing somewhere in between the two groups. Fiordiligi and Willie walked next to the raven laguz, the both of them glancing at the prince of Galdor as they walked up to Gaston.

"Well, Mr. Sleepyhead finally decided to wake up, huh?" asked Gaston in a joking manner.

Fiordiligi instantly shot Gaston one of the worst glares she had been able to muster in her life as Willie saw Ike raise Ragnell high into the skies.

* * *

The scene in Mesgarel was very chaotic, with laguz and branded clashing against the last of the Jargonese beorc, steel meeting fangs and talons as the brutal war was waged. Blood spilled all over the streets of the capitol of Tardal, with plenty Even with the fierce determination that was being held by the last remaining usurpers of the Jargonese throne the battle looked bleak for the beorc not siding with Galdor or Stobin.

Ike, his friends, and the sovereigns of Galdor and Stobin were all running down the streets, Ike and Maria making short work of any unfortunate Jargonese that were unfortunate enough to stand in their way, Willie and Torzukel finishing them off with a fireball or a blast of light if the blows Maria and Ike dealt were not enough. They ran through the enemies, running as quickly as they could to the tall towers that stood out as the palace of Mesgarel.

Occasionally, they would find themselves surrounded. It was usually a very weak force that surrounded them, however. Whenever this happened, Gaston, who had taken to the skies for most of the adventure, would sweep down on the opponents, gleefully cutting them with his beak as the remaining sovereigns finished of whatever remained of their opponents with their weapons and continue on their way.

Finally, after having a stretch of no enemies for a while, they came out onto an open plaza that was not guarded by soldiers. This plaza was wide, with many abandoned market stalls sitting there as a remnant of what could have been a bustling city. In front of them was the gate to the palace of Mesgarel, the shiny silver giving them all the confirmation they needed that they were finally at the palace gates.

"Okay, here we are!" said Ike. "There's the palace!"

"Wait," said Fiordiligi, walking forwards so that she saw the palace. "Should there not be a usurper waiting for us?"

"No," said Byron quickly. "You weren't there when we retook Gardelia. The guy that was guarding the throne said that it was a group effort, and that thus there was a council of usurpers that was in Tardal. So it's not just one usurper. It's a bunch of them."

"So you mean…?" asked Ike.

The mercenary's question was answered for him in actions, as suddenly a group of five individuals jumped from the roofs of the buildings surrounding the plaza and got into fighting stances in front of them.

The group was dressed in the purple armor of the Jargonese, except that their helmets were all fashioned very differently from the average Jargonese helmet; their helmets included a pair of horns on top and a strange nose-like projection that seemed to resemble a demon. One of them held a double-edged sword, a second held a lance that had no steel tips at the end of it, a third held a bow made of the purest gold, a fourth held a magic tome, and the fifth held a strange kind of healing staff with a huge bulb at the end of it.

"So you're the infamous Ike that's leading this movement against us," said the soldier with the double-edged sword.

"Yes I am," said the mercenary, stepping forwards. "I guess you have a problem with us here, is that it?"

"Pretty much," said a female voice from behind the armor of the soldier holding the strange lance. "And you're beorc to."

"So?" asked Ike. "We're all people. You guys have been friends for several hundreds of years. Why do you guys have to break that, hm?"

"Because Jargon's always mistrusted the laguz, that's why!" retorted a young boy, who was apparently holding the bow. "Those guys go right and give birth to those branded that have so much power."

"'Ey!" yelled a rather offended Willie, stepping forwards with anger showing on his face. "Don't yeh go talkin' bad about me, ye 'ear?"

"Why not?" asked the fourth usurper, who was apparently a man. "We can do whatever we want with you now that we almost have the whole continent."

"You forget, dear sir, that we went about and ravaged everything you put forth," said Fiordiligi, stepping forwards with a determined expression on her face. "We also destroyed a warp gate in Gardelia and your resident one in Jargon."

"That is true," stated an old man's voice behind the armor of the soldier bearing the staff. "But you forget that we can take the entire continent once we eliminate you right here, right now."

"That likely won't happen," said Ike. "Only a few of us will be standing after this day."

"And you're sure it's you guys?" asked the man holding the double edged sword. "We'll show you!"

Ike and his friends got into their fighting positions, Willie brandishing his thunder tome as he had memorized the more powerful fire spell that he had needed to learn and Fiordiligi holding her staff in front of her.

"Hargeld, Cecily, Myriel," said Torzukel as he brought out his light tome. "I want you three to hide behind one of the market stalls. This might be a hard battle, and I do not want any of you harmed.

"Yes, Torzukel," said the chancellor in reply, and the three of them made off for the market stalls.

"I hope you guys have a plan," said the lady holding the tipless lance. "You'll need it."

"Attack!" shouted the man wielding the double edged blade.

The usurpers charged at Ike's group with alarming speed, Ike and Byron claiming the defensive as Gaston swooped down to help narrow the competition.

The first blow was attempted when the archer fired an arrow at Gaston. The raven felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw how off his aim was, but these few seconds were enough for him to lose his aim on the healer, and so Gaston ended up having to perform a loop in the air to begin his attempt anew.

The man wielding the double-edged sword wasted no time on fighting against Ike. Instantly, blades clashed, Ike fearlessly parrying the first downward slash and attempting a horizontal slash at the figure's head. However, he effortlessly dodged this, and Ike felt his legs get kicked out from under him, and as soon as his body hit the ground he raised Ragnell, effectively blocking a strike that would have hit him had he not been more alert. The mercenary took his time to suddenly bring his leg up towards the man's face into a kick to the side of his chest, sending the man falling down onto his back.

"You play dirty!" said the usurper as he jumped up.

"And so do you," said Ike, nodding as he stood up rather slowly.

"Then that makes us about equal," said the usurper as the two of them resumed their fighting stances. "Let's do this!"

Meanwhile, the lady with the lance had gone after Byron, who was having something of a difficult time fighting her. Despite the fact that Byron's sword hand was fast, the usurper was even faster with her lance, and as the general tried to block her fast jabs and strikes he found himself getting whacked a few times in the armor. Finally, though, after being so determined to land a strike on her, he managed to get her in the shoulder with a stab that she blocked a second too late.

The two of them stood, panting harshly as they stared each other down.

"And here I thought you weren't good enough to be killed by me," she said simply.

She went in for another strike, Byron sidestepping this and sending a vertical slash in her direction. She masterfully dodged this as well, and the two of them stared each other down, a smirk gracing his figure as he looked into the eye-slits of the armored woman he was fighting.

"You're not so bad yourself," said Byron. "Maybe I can get a kiss before I take your life."

"Why, I'll never!" stated the woman, jumping at the general with a jab in the air that he somehow managed to block. "I won't let my lips be taken by some guy whose hairs are graying!"

And their fight went on as Byron felt enraged at the lady's comment.

Torzukel and Willie had their attentions on the soldier wielding the magic tome, who despite the fact that it was a two on one battle, the two magic users found themselves frustrated from constantly missing with their spells. Fireball after light beam after another fireball missed the usurper, who retaliated with gusts of wind that at one point sent Torzukel flying into a market stall.

When the Cockney boy saw this, he just stared at his opponent, his mouth gaping widely.

"'O are yeh?" asked Willie, the surprise in his voice apparent.

"You would not want to know, trust me, good sir," he said before quickly another wind spell at Willie. This, the Cockney boy dodged by jumping to the side, although he did land on his side as he casted his next fireball which, unsurprisingly, was dodged by the opponent once again.

The staff user, meanwhile, was busy keeping Maria at bay from the archer as he fired arrows at Gaston, hoping to offset his aim from his opponent and succeeding every single time. He found himself constantly attempting to bash Maria, the cat dodging him and about to maul the archer halfway across the plaza when the staff user got her attention with dark balls of magic that would appear out of nowhere and suck her back to the area in front of him, and the cycle would continue with the poor cat lashing at the staff user with an increasing anger in her claws.

Fiordiligi stood to the side, noticing that in the entire scuffle, nobody had gotten healed. She watched the groups go at it for a while, and after finding that nobody was injuring anybody, she found that it was time she actually decided to do something to help her friends. She watched Maria in her scuffle with the staff user prominently, noticing how the staff user always seemed to rely on his staff too much. After staring at the fighting going on around her for a few minutes, Fiordiligi lay her own staff on the market stall that she had been leaning against and ran towards Maria's short little scuffle.

Upon running up to the figure, he had just sucked Maria back for the umpteenth time. However, as he was about to go in for the hit, Fiordiligi had arrived, and she forcefully gripped his staff and tried to wrest it out of his grip.

"Hey!" he shouted angrily as the woman struggled against him. "Let go of my staff!"

With a quick shake of his arms, Fiordiligi was sent falling to the ground. However, the distraction that she had created was enough for Maria to be able to go in for the kill, and in her pent-up anger the cat laguz lunged at the staff user's head, literally ripping it off with everything she could muster.

After briefly tossing the head to the side, the cat ran for the archer, finally biting into his waist and dragging him around the plaza as he yelled in pain.

Gaston finally took this opportunity to dive in on the magic-using usurper, hoping to nail him against the wall with his beak. The raven went in for the dive just after Torzukel had launched another beam of light that the magic user dodged. The usurper saw Gaston's dive, and he narrowly managed to avoid it as the raven floated above him harmlessly.

However, this second of abstraction was enough for Willie to finally land a hit with a fireball that then erupted into a small pillar of flames upon contact with the opponent. This thoroughly scorched the enemy, and as he frantically ran about trying to put out his fire, Torzukel sent a light spell at him, features hard set as the burst of light finally hit the usurper and ended his reign for good.

Byron had managed to survive his opponent's onslaught long enough for her to witness these events, but before she could react to her somewhat sad distraction, Byron had kicked her legs out from under her. The general then plunged the blade into her waist, shortly afterwards tearing the helmet from her face and going in for a kiss, his lips landing on hers as her blood flowed onto the ground below her.

"See?" asked the general. "There. I got a kiss out of—"

Before the general could say anything else, he felt a harsh kick to his side, and then he saw Fiordiligi stamping on his belly over and over again, face red with rage at what she had apparently just seen.

"You disgusting pervert!" she yelled repeatedly, the heel of her shoe digging into his stomach as she stomped on it repeatedly. The female warrior was completely ignored as everybody's attention was suddenly focused on the lady's rage tantrum.

The only ones who were not engrossed in Fiordiligi's tantrum were Ike and his opponent, who were both panting close to a market stall. The two of them had sustained a good deal of cuts and bruises, and they were both panting, Ike from exhaustion and the usurper from loss of blood from the numerous cuts he had attained.

"Damn…" said the usurper. "You were pretty damn… awesome… I applaud whoever taught you."

"Thanks," said Ike. "Who do you think is worse off here?"

"Me, probably," said the usurper, just before he collapsed to the ground. "I've had enough… I'll give… a good word… to all those guys… down… there…"

The usurper said this, and then he fell completely still behind the armor. Ike walked up to him and stabbed him in the belly to make sure that he was really dead. Upon finding no motion from the dead man, Ike nodded.

"You were very good yourself," said Ike. "If I ever see you again, I'll give you a good word."

Ike walked to where the rest of the group was watching Fiordiligi's temper tantrum against Byron just as she had started walking away from the moaning general, Gaston and Maria approaching and transforming back to their human forms as the fight finally ended.

"Well, it's over," said Maria as she looked at the rest of the group, Torzukel and Willie tucking their tomes away. "Uh, guys? You can come out now!"

As Byron stood up with a hand on his stomach, there was a total silence.

"Uh, Cecily?" asked Gaston. "Hargeld? Myriel? Where are you?"

Heads began turning frantically around searching for any signs of the monarchs, Willie's eyes settling on Cecily being dragged back into a building by Myriel, the heron trying in vain to get out of his grip.

Upon seeing this, Willie rushed forward, the anger getting to him as he ran a fire chant through his head and released a fireball at the branded prince that caused him to lose his grip on the heron's hand.

"'Ey!" he yelled as Cecily ran back. "Stop it!"

Cecily ran towards Gaston, running into his arms as Ike and Byron held up their weapons against Myriel, Maria taking to a fighting stance in her human state. The branded prince stopped in his tracks, anger glaring in his eyes as he stared at them.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Torzukel, who was confused by what had just happened. "What is happening here? Why are you branding your weapons against my son?"

"Yeah!" said Gaston, his body caught in the arms of a heavily panting Cecily. "What's up here?"

"Trying to molest Cecily here, eh?" asked Fiordiligi, who had returned with her healing staff. "I will have none of it!"

"I was not going to molest her," said Myriel angrily. "What makes you suggest such a thing?"

"Then why were you dragging Cecily against—?"

"It was much worse than molestation!" shouted Cecily, interrupting Byron's question. "They were all there! Alive! Alive, but without their minds! They were saying the most horrible things!"

"Who's they?" asked Ike.

"The sovereigns of every nation that Jargon took over and Regent Harold!" shouted the prime minister.

"What?" asked Torzukel, still confused at the accusations that were being hurled at his son. "How is this possible?"

"Regent Harold?" asked Ike.

"Yes!" said the heron. "And Myriel crystallized Hargeld into the same state!"

"No…" said Maria, the shock becoming evident in her eyes.

"Oh, really?" asked the branded prince, dropping his anger in favor of a more lighthearted approach. "I was just trying to keep her safe from harm. She must be mad. That is all, really."

There was a tense silence between the two parties, Ike glaring at Myriel with extreme hatred in his eyes.

"Crystallized, you said?" asked Maria. "That is something that can't be covered with what you're saying. And according to my senses, crystallizing is almost always covered with death. And cults work with death. You're part of this cult, I'm sure of it now."

"That explains why the usurpers were hired, doesn't it?" asked Ike, the pieces of the puzzle coming together almost instantly in their brains. "You hired them to cover up the fact that you had crystallized Regent Harold, hadn't you? You also wanted to cover up the fact that the evil cult was at work here, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Myriel, stepping back as the rest of the group advanced upon him, Torzukel trying to hold Willie back but failing.

"And then the warp gates," said Byron. "I get it now. Jargon wasn't particularly well known for magic, and Galdor would never have considered erecting a warp gate at all. So a third party had to step in to provide the materials and chants needed. I'll bet you were that third party, weren't you?"

"This is madness!" exclaimed Torzukel. "This is insanity!"

"Oh, relly?" asked Willie.

"Yes!" exclaimed the king of Galdor. "That fails to explain the anti-laguz sentiments!"

"The anti-laguz sentiments were a front," said Fiordiligi assertively. "This cult is an expert in dark magic, right? If so, then my hypothesis is that the cult effectively took over their minds to make them think that the murders were by the laguz of Tardal. However, the cult really took these men prisoner, erecting a magical copy in their place and proceeding to sacrifice the prisoners."

"Believe it, Torzukel," said Ike. "I know what we're saying here."

"But I know not what you are talking about!" shouted the prince of Galdor, hands flying high in the air.

"You're better off fighting the air right now, you know that?" asked Maria. "Because last night, there was a baby being sacrificed around a huge group of people. That was your hand that ate that baby's heart out, wasn't it?"

There was a dead silence as Myriel's eyes bulged.

"Face it, Myriel," said Ike, face hardening into an angry expression. "Your secret's out."

There was another dead silence before the sky turned a fierce blood red and the earth shook. The group lost their balance, falling to the ground as tremors caused pillars of earth to protrude from the ground. However, Myriel was slowly lifted up into the skies, eyes glowing red as he ascended.

"And my secret is out a little too late for you to do anything about it!" he shouted, launching a strange red and black harpoon down at the earth. It could have hit Cecily, but she rolled out of the way in time, the harpoon vaporizing just as it connected with the earth.

"Damn!" the prince of Galdor explained. "That should have killed you!"

The shock of it all was too much for Torzukel, who could barely even frown.

"Wy are yeh doin' dis, Governor?" asked Willie over the thunder of the tremors.

"This world is a rotten place!" shouted Myriel. "No matter what, everything goes to the bottom eventually! We need a true ruler like Ilemyr to rule it! We will obliterate every single hypocrite and live in true peace afterwards!"

"Then why did you side with us?" asked Maria.

"Did you not know that part of the requirement for waking him is taking all of the nations?" asked Myriel. "You should have known that with your little 'seer training' that you received! And we also need all of the rulers to comply with the waking of the demon. That is why I crystallized them all! So that he will certainly wake!"

"You are mad…" said Fiordiligi loudly. "You are much worse than that masochist Alfonso that you took prisoner!"

"And as for you, what makes you think he is my prisoner, you ignorant woman?" asked Myriel.

"Despina said he was taken prisoner!" shouted the lady. "And she saw the chains and everything! And don't you dare call me an ignorant woman, you heartless madman!"

"And what makes her think he was taken prisoner?" asked Myriel, a chuckle escaping his lips. "She was clever, and yet she could not figure out that he was faking his own arrest! Oh, the comedy of it all! Alfonso was part of this cult from the beginning."

"So you mean…?" asked Maria.

"Damn you!" shouted Gaston angrily. "You made him arrange Kuranga's kidnapping, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," said the prince of Galdor, the earth shaking more violently than ever as he grinned wider and wider. "He could not help but pass that opportunity up."

"Damn you!" shouted Ike. "Damn you!"

"I would not waste my breath on useless insults if I were you," said Myriel, pointing at Ike as the tremors finally stopped. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a ritual to attend with the rest of the Knights of Ilemyr."

"Oh, no yeh don't!" shouted Willie.

The Cockney boy fired a fireball at the prince, but when it connected, it bounced right off of Myriel's body and far into the skies.

"What the?" shouted Gaston in shock at what had just happened.

"Oh, should I mention that for helping him come to life, Ilemyr gave me unlimited power?" asked Myriel. "Oh, how I love such power! Now, I shall be off. Good day, sirs."

And with this, the prince of Galdor warped away, leaving the group incredibly bewildered.

Finally Ike stood up, helping Cecily up to her feet as the rest of the group slowly stood up.

"So those usurpers…" said the heron. "They were unjustly killed!"

"We didn't know it then," said Gaston. "Ike, you said that ritual happened last night, right?"

"Yeah," said Ike. "I saw it with Maria, Byron, Fiordiligi, and Willie. Ask them what it was all about."

"Oh, dear…" said Maria. "If this happened, what are we going to do?"

"There is something we can do," said Cecily. "Sharotal sleeps in a temple in Stobin that is heavily guarded by stone statues."

"And you're the only one allowed to enter, right?" asked Ike.

"Essentially, yes," said the heron, brushing some dust off of her white dress. "But I can grant you all access as well. There, I can sing the galdr of awakening to wake her up, and she may guide us on how to defeat this monster."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" asked the mercenary. "Let's go."

Before the group left, Byron held out his hand for Torzukel to take, and finding the king not responding to the stimulus, Byron roughly took his hand and helped him up.

"The least you could do is tell me what's wrong here," said the general as the group walked out of Mesgarel.

The king of Galdor remained silent, golden eyes staring sadly at the floor as he was led out of Mesgarel.


	13. Chapter 13: Goddess of Peace

Well, here you have it. My break is officially over.

And a lot happens this chapter, so look out below!

Anyways, you know the rest. Here's the chapter, and I really hope you enjoy!

* * *

_**Tardal was taken by Ike, thus ending the Jargonese threat altogether. However, this action proved to be more harmful to the peace of the continent than anybody would have anticipated.**_

_**Myriel came out as the leader of the evil cult, and it was revealed that the Jargonese were merely pawns in the cult's game to wake the demon Ilemyr, part of which requires the entire continent of Greljedo to come under the cult's control.**_

_**It was also revealed that Regent Harold never truly died in the first place; he, along with the rulers of every nation that was taken by the cult's covert activities, were enchanted into a state that would make them say that the demon should rise again, another condition for Ilemyr to wake up.**_

_**According to Maria's knowledge of the Knights of Ilemyr, the last condition for the demon to wake is to perform an incredibly complex ritual that involves the deaths of all but a few members of the cult. This, she says, will take a very long time, so the group decides to return to Stobin to wake the goddess Sharotal to see what can be done.**_

_**Ike and his friends gathered the remnants of the once massive army they had lying around Mesgarel, and sensing that time is short, they make haste towards Latorahs, the shrine just south of the capitol of Stobin where Sharotal sleeps, waiting to be awakened by the galdr of her descendants. It should be a relatively non-violent journey to the shrine, but Myriel has other plans…**_

Chapter 13: Goddess of Peace

"Man, that was a lot of marching we had to do."

"I think that resting is a good idea."

"So do I. Let's sit somewhere and talk."

The group had marched day and night for ten days straight, only camping once outside of the border between Tardal and Stobin. It paid off, however; they were just a short march away from the temple, and Cecily knew they would be there the next day. The stretch of prairie that around them proved to be ample grounds for bonding and many soldiers had broken off into cliques and had started conversing amongst the sea of brown grass.

Ike was the first to sit down on a rock that happened to be laying on the ground, Maria and Willie both taking to sitting on the floor. Gaston simply sat on another rock across from Ike, Fiordiligi took a seat next to Willie, and Cecily sat down on another rock that was close to Gaston. Torzukel just stood, not really paying attention to what was being said as Byron took his seat on the ground next to him.

"That cult…" said Maria as they sat down. "Hoo. I hope Kuranga's okay under that Alfonso."

"I swear I will make that masochistic bastard suffer when I see him next!" exclaimed Fiordiligi angrily, her fist waving in the air. "Just wait and see! I will make him suffer!"

"But mu'um, yeh don't 'ave novin' to 'it 'im with," said Willie in reply.

"Then I will steal somebody else's weapon and do it," said the lady. "Byron, I hope you have no objections."

"Why does it have to be me?" asked the general in reply, closing his eyes with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Because you're the pervert, that's why," said Maria, crossing her arms in front of her breasts. "Now stop trying to hit on every lady you see, okay?"

"But all women are beautiful!" retorted Byron.

"But that doesn't mean you have to hit on them all," replied Gaston, his wings beating the air slightly as if to punctuate his point. "So there."

"That is true," added Cecily, her hand daintily going through her hair as she spoke. "So, Sir Ike, you do understand now that Sharotal and Ashunera were sisters, correct?"

"I've heard the tales, yes," said Ike. "I actually can't be surprised on how similar they look."

"Not that," replied the heron, shaking her head. "She just knows the Ancient Language, as do I. You must not be surprised."

"I've dealt with it before," said Ike. "But hopefully, she speaks like a normal person these days, right?"

"If your definition of 'normal person' is what I think it is, yes," said Cecily. "You know, Torzukel, you have not spoken at all in the past eleven days. Is something wrong?"

The king of Galdor left no response, instead opting to stare in front of him.

"'Eh!" shouted Willie, slamming his fist on the ground hard. "We be takin wit yeh, Governor!"

The Cockney boy got no reply, the king merely turning away from them. Ike stood up, giving Torzukel a good hard look to the back of his head.

"It's about Myriel, isn't it?" asked the mercenary.

This got the king of Galdor's attention. Heaving a sigh that denoted a lot of suffering, Torzukel turned to face the rest of the group, golden eyes giving off such an air of sadness that made it hard not to feel bad for him.

"I do not know why he joined that cult," said Torzukel simply. "I thought I raised my son well. Why would he do this to me?"

"I don't know," said Gaston, also standing up and walking to the king slowly. "But whatever it is, something had to happen."

"That is what I do not understand," said the king, looking down at the ground sadly. "Myriel was a good son. He was what every father would want a son to be. He was kind, caring, friendly, and most of all honest to me. His mother had died in childbirth, but I was able to raise my son in the best of manners. Myriel was perfect."

"But this had to start somewhere, right?" asked Maria. "I mean, people don't just come out and say 'hey, daddy, I'm part of an evil cult now, so I'm going to kill every last person here', right?"

"I think I should have been warned by circumstances that appeared earlier," said the branded king, looking back up at the group as the memories came back to him. "When he came of age, he had begun withdrawing from me. He was silent. He was withdrawn. He was distant. Eventually, he began lashing out at everybody. I was alarmed by this, but did not know what to do. I tried to ask him several times, but he would lash out at me and leave every time I asked. I should have known this was what would happen to him. But why was it my son that they chose to lead this whole operation?"

Torzukel looked at Ike and Gaston as everybody else stood up, the silence almost begging for some sympathy as the king fought to keep a batch of tears behind his eyelids.

"None of us know that," said Fiordiligi tenderly as she stood up. "That is for sure. But we must stay strong. The old Myriel would not approve of seeing you so sad."

"The old Myriel has departed forever…" said Torzukel briefly, still fighting back the urge to cry. "I do not understand what I did. Why did my son join that cult? Why would he do this to his father who he loved so much?"

There was a silence as Torzukel sniffled lightly.

"I apologize," said the king as a solitary tear travelled down the side of his cheek. "It is just… so hard for me to take."

"'Ey, it'll be all roight," said Willie, walking up to Torzukel and patting him softly on the back. "Jes don't 'old novin ferm us, okay?"

"Yeah, you don't have to hide anything from us," said Maria. "We trust you. We're glad you told us this. Because now we know how you feel."

The king shook his head as the tears began to cascade down his face with increasing momentum all of his friends surrounding him.

Finally, his rather thin arms wrapped themselves around Cecily impulsively, but the heron wrapped her own arms around Torzukel as he shed his tears into her shoulder.

Nothing was said between the friends as they all patted Torzukel on the back comfortingly as he hugged Cecily, none of them moving from their spots as they all comforted the branded king. And they all stood like this for a long time, the branded king crying into Cecily's shoulder almost as if his pain knew no bounds. And when he finally did stop crying, the whole group pulled the king into one giant group hug in a way to show him that through everything they would endure, they would all be there for each other.

* * *

The group marched to the temple the next day, Ike standing in front yet again as he led the rather small remnants of what remained of their army.

It had turned out that a huge portion of the army of Galdor was also part of Ilemyr's Knights, which had dedicated itself to resurrecting Ilemyr since the beginning of life on Greljedo. Everybody was quite shocked that so many people were part of this evil cult that Torzukel and Maria had not quite been able to sleep well the night before. However, they had still gotten up early enough to join the march.

As usual, Ike had gotten up very early, and he now led the march with Maria, Willie, Fiordiligi, and Gaston at his side. Cecily and Torzukel were both behind the mercenary, Torzukel walking with a new spring in his step as the heron laguz stood behind them.

The army walked for a fairly long time, and the sun shone high behind a few puffy clouds as they walked. Finally, Cecily's face brightened up.

"We are here!" she claimed excitedly.

The group stopped, but only when Maria took a sniff at the nearby air did she realize something was amiss.

"And I don't think we're the first ones here," said Maria. "It's the cult!"

And sure enough, as they approached the majestic stone building that was the temple, they found men in white cloaks walking around all over the place, heaving the remains of a bunch of stone statues so that they were far away from the temple.

"Oh no…" said Cecily, covering her mouth with her hand to hide a gasp of shock. "They destroyed the statues!"

"But how?" asked Torzukel. "Those things could not have crumbled under the weight of a hammer!"

"It must be their magic," said Ike, nodding and hoisting Ragnell on his shoulder. "If I'm correct, this cult must have very powerful magic."

"Indeed," said a disembodied voice from in front of them. "In fact, we slaughtered them with everything we had!"

Before anybody was able to reply, a red light appeared in front of them, and then the figure of a robed man appeared in front of them. When the red light died, the man pulled off his hood, revealing aged features and a face that Fiordiligi knew all to well.

"Alfonso!" shouted the lady angrily. "What did you do to Guglielmo and Ferrando? Tell me now, fiend!"

"I just told them you were faithless is all," said Alfonso, chuckling. "I should have suspected that you of all people would be the exception to that rule."

"How dare you underestimate my ability to be a virtuous lady!" retorted Fiordiligi, stepping forwards angrily.

However, before she could get far, Alfonso held his hand out, and as Fiordiligi was sent rocketing back another red light was seen, and this time three people appeared. Two of them wore white cloaks, and they both held a rope that went around the neck of the third man. The third man was kneeling on the ground bound with ropes and cloth, looking towards Ike and the group pleadingly. As soon as they had warped there, one of the men grabbed a dagger from within his cloak and brought it up to their prisoner's throat.

"Make one move in my direction, and the prisoner dies," said Alfonso simply.

However, Maria looked at the prisoner, his jet black hair instantly signaling to her who it was.

"Kuranga!" shouted Maria.

"'Ey, you let 'im go roight now, Governor!" shouted Willie angrily. "You let 'im go, or—!"

"There is nothing that one such as you can hope to attain, you bastard child," replied the old man quickly.

"'Ey!" yelled Willie, who was really offended at Alfonso's comment. "You don't got no roight teh say dat about me!"

"Willie's right!" yelled Byron. "You leave him alone!"

"But it is true," replied Alfonso, gesturing at the teenager as he spoke. "He would know himself, right?

"You are mad," said Fiordiligi, standing back up with the help of Gaston. "If I ever manage to get close to you, I will kill you!"

"My dear, I am not mad," said Alfonso, laughing as he spoke. "In fact, I am the only rational human being in this entire area."

"You have no right to speak to Fiordiligi in such a manner," rebuked Cecily sharply as she came from behind Ike. "Now let the prisoner go!"

"And as for you, dear minister, we have your goddess guarded," said Alfonso. "Now, I offer you this challenge: if you really care about this continent, you will get past me and into the chamber where she sleeps. Oh, and since she has a force field around her, we cannot kill her unless you step in. So if you can defeat my henchmen and awaken the goddess, then that will be a sight to behold."

"You're no gentleman," said Ike, sapphire orbs narrowing with the purest hate. "You're a monster is what you are!"

"Now, now, no need to be so uncouth," replied Alfonso. "I wait for you, and with your friend, too!"

With this, Alfonso warped away, his two henchmen warping away with Kuranga as well.

"Oh, that son of a bitch!" shouted Gaston. "He's going to die for all he did!"

"Yer tellin' me, Governor?" asked Willie. "'E ain't no man to be sayin' dose dings!"

"Willie's right!" added Maria. "That monster will pay for this!"

"So do we march?" asked Torzukel.

"We march," said Ike. "And we give Alfonso what he's got coming for him!"

"All—" began Cecily.

"Charge!" Fiordiligi's boldness was something to behold, and everybody else in the group just shrugged and walked ahead of the lady as they approached all of the men wearing the white cloaks.

When the men wearing the white cloaks noticed the group approaching, the foremost person raised his hand high. Ike watched as a red whirlpool formed above the man in the white cloak, but before Ike was able to say anything he saw a thousand little razors come out of it, all of them directed at his little army.

"Look out!" shouted the mercenary captain, panic rising his being.

Some people had barely gotten onto the ground when the razors where released at the entire group. Everybody that was in Ike's group had gotten on the ground in time to dodge the spell; however, they lost several of their soldiers just from one spell alone. Ike looked at the mage, quickly waving Ragnell in the air as he stood up. His blade sent a rush of wind running at the mage, and when he was beheaded Ike looked at Cecily as the rest of the group stood up as well.

"What was that?" asked the mercenary, fear just prodding into his voice.

"It must have been demonic magic…" said the heron as she stood up, brushing some dirt from her white dress. "This is terrible. You must watch your every step from here; one misstep could lead to disaster…"

"No kiddin', mu'um," said Willie. "Dose blokes are really bad, dey are."

"Let's go then!" said Maria. "Gaston, we're taking on these guys now!"

The raven and the cat both transformed, and the group advanced slowly as Gaston swooped to the skies. When the red whirlpools appeared, everybody in the army now knew what to do. Whenever the razors of pure magic swept by them any time afterwards, the army was ready to retaliate with a long distance attack that usually hit. Ike slashed at enemies with Ragnell, taking advantage of the fact that the sacred blade could generate waves of air, his sapphire eyes burning with a determination not seen in most people. Willie took to casting thunder bolts all over the place that he had now learned from Torzukel, every single thunderbolt hitting the cult members as he casted away. Torzukel too fired light beams all over the battlefield, every one hitting as well. Fiordiligi would watch as Maria dashed between enemies, dodging every single razor in her transformed state and taking out the mages that were farther away. She looked for an opportunity to frisk a body for a dagger, however, and whenever a mage would appear close to them she would be the first one to frisk its dead body, dismayed to find that there was nothing she could kill Alfonso with.

They actually approached the temple very quickly, Gaston providing plenty of air cover and quite a good distraction as he flew around the skies. The imposing stone building eventually stared down at the army as it battled. And then, the instant they entered the temple, Ike looked at Cecily with a grin on his face.

"Well, we're here," said Ike. "Let's go show that Alfonso what kind of business we mean here!"

Cecily opened her mouth to reply when suddenly, she went rigid, relaxing almost immediately and suddenly looked ahead with a blank stare, looking ahead of her as she walked forwards. Her footsteps echoed in the vast temple, Ike's gaze going after her.

"Cecily?" he asked as she walked past him.

The mercenary got no reply to the question, so he stepped forwards.

"Cecily?" he shouted.

There was no response. Ike cursed his luck.

"Damn it…" he said, quickly turning to Willie and Torzukel. He then ran back outside, and ran to Byron.

"Byron!" said Ike as the general looked at him. "You're in charge until I get back!"

"Okay, but expect some questions when you get back," said Byron, who then began issuing commands.

Ike nodded, and then ran up to Torzukel and Willie, who were both firing spells at the enemy. Ike roughly grabbed the Cockney boy's wrist, the king instantly turning to face Ike.

"You two need to come with me," said Ike quickly.

"Wet?" asked Willie. "But we ain't never—!"

"If you don't come with me, Cecily's going to sing that galdr," said Ike. "And then, we'll have more problems. No questions. Just come with me."

Torzukel simply shrugged, following Ike as he chased Cecily down the corridor and catching up to her just in time to see her turn towards a door at the side of the temple.

Fiordiligi had just run into the temple, a dagger now being held in her hand. Upon seeing Ike and the group walking after Cecily, she followed, surmising that wherever the goddess was would be where Alfonso would be, and thus, her only chance at attaining revenge for a terrible wrong inflicted on her person.

* * *

Ike closely followed Cecily as she walked slowly down the halls, Willie and Torzukel both following him as the four of them walked past doorway after doorway in a long elongated hall. The torchlight gave off a fairly disturbing gleam, and Willie couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen then.

As they walked down the hallway, they found a green aura beginning to emanate from behind a door that Cecily was heading towards.

"Oh, heaven forbid that is the place where the goddess sleeps…" said Torzukel.

Nobody replied, and as the heron approached the door, it opened for her. As Ike tried to get in, he found the stone door almost automatically closing shut on them. Thinking quickly, Ike thrust Ragnell into the space, and the door was caught so that there was just enough room for Willie and Torzukel to enter.

"Get in there!" shouted Ike.

The two magicians wasted no time doing what they were told, and Ike pulled on Ragnell. This opened the door enough for the mercenary to suddenly get the door swinging wide open. He wasted no time in running in, cape almost getting caught in the door as it swiveled shut with a decisive bang.

When Ike was in the room, he found an altar where a woman lay sleeping behind the stable barrier of a greenish force field. The woman was incredibly beautiful as she slept, jade hair flowing down the sides of her body with the steady rise and fall of her chest being the only sign that she was alive.

However, surrounding the goddess was Cecily and a group of ten men wearing white cloaks. Off to the side, Kuranga was kept prisoner, still in the same kneeling position as before. Alfonso stood next to this little group, a red glow emanating from his hand.

As soon as they had entered, Ike looked at Alfonso angrily.

"You're mad!" exclaimed the mercenary.

"Oh, I am not mad," said Alfonso. "You did not actually think I would not take over Cecily's mind, would you?"

"You are a monster, Alfonso!" said Torzukel in reply. "I will not let you get away with this!"

"Oh, really?" asked the cult leader, chuckling softly as he spoke. "We shall see about that. Minions! Attack!"

And instantly, everybody in the room raised their hands high to have the red whirlpools appear above their heads. Ike quickly slashed the head off of one of the unlucky minions with a wave of air, anger flaring in his eyes as the blood flew everywhere. As Willie and Torzukel both got on the ground with the mercenary, the razors flew above their heads, where they crashed into the walls behind them and cutting into the stone wall behind them.

As soon as the three of them got up, Torzukel angrily sent a beam of light at another of the cloaked figures, stunning him long enough for Willie to fire a fireball at the man, ending his life as Ike ran towards another villain.

Before much else could be done, however, Cecily spread her arms wide, and she began singing the galdr of awakening. Willie barely noticed Alfonso's smirk at them as Cecily sang the ancient language in front of the force field.

"Crap!" shouted Ike. "We've got to move it here!"

The mercenary promptly sent an air wave at two of the cloaked men, successfully beheading them as Torzukel launched a beam of light at the third one, stunning him long enough for Ike to leap into the air and kill him with a downwards slash. As the panic slowly rose up in their beings, they noticed the razors flying at them again, only this time they did not care to get on the ground. Willie had run so fast in his panic to unleash a fireball at the nearest enemy that the razors dodged him altogether. Torzukel had fired a beam at one of the other cloaked figures, thus offsetting his aim so that none of the razors hit him either. However, Ike got grazed in the arm by one of the razors, and he found that his air slashes were slightly weaker. This did not change the fact that he was still able to decapitate the cult member nearest him with his sword, however, and as Willie unleashed a fireball at the cult member that Torzukel had stunned, Torzukel sending a beam of light at the man with the white cloak that Willie had launched a fireball at. Ike went around the force field, decapitating another cult member as he ran. When Ike leapt over the force field and killed another cult member, Torzukel and Willie both double-teamed on the only remaining cult member and the simultaneous combination of fire and light finished him very quickly.

Before they could celebrate, Ike's eyes hardened at the sight of Kuranga with a rope being tied around his neck and with a gag keeping his mouth shut. As the sound of Cecily's voice began to drown out everything else in the room, Ike jumped at the man holding the dagger to Kuranga's throat, killing him with a vertical slash and instantly flying at the other man, who had let go of the other end of the rope in the hopes of running away. Willie caught on quickly, however, and he unleashed a fireball at the other person who had held Kuranga prisoner as Ike went to work unbinding the dragon.

However, they just noticed Alfonso looking at Ike with a glare in his eyes.

"You were not meant to defy me!" shouted the man. "And now, you will suffer!"

As Ike was about to pull the wristband off of Kuranga that had prevented him from taking his laguz form, he suddenly found excruciating pain emanating from within his body, and he doubled back, letting out a yell as he fell to the ground. Ike clawed at it, sapphire eyes suddenly bearing a pained expression on them.

"Ike!" yelled Torzukel, kneeling over the mercenary as the pain coursed through his body.

"'Ey!" yelled Willie, who was the only person who noticed that Alfonso had his hand extended towards the mercenary. "You leave 'im be, Governor!"

Before anything else could be done, however, Torzukel noticed that the door was no longer kept shut against the walls. Before anybody else could do anything, Fiordiligi burst straight through the door, dagger in hand as she rushed at Alfonso. The old man barely had time to turn around and look at her before she was on him, and then the gleaming dagger in her hand sailed into Alfonso's chest.

This was enough to stop the pain coursing through Ike, and as he slowly turned around, he found that Fiordiligi was driving the dagger into Alfonso's body again and again as she held him by the collar of the white cloak he had taken to wearing.

Willie looked at Fiordiligi stabbing Alfonso, and he had counted thirteen stabs when she finally let go of him, her face still contorted in rage and hatred as she saw the last of Alfonso's life-blood spill onto the ground.

She shook her head afterwards, and then looked down at her bloodied dress and then at everybody else.

There was suddenly a slight pause in the galdr that Cecily had been singing as she regained control of herself. However, she found that since the cult was all dead in the room, she leapt right back into the verse that she had been singing when Alfonso lay there dying.

Willie promptly knelt next to Kuranga, first removing the band that kept him from turning into his dragon form, and then the cloth gag that had been on his mouth the entire time was discarded on the ground as Gaston, Maria, and Byron all ran into the room at the same time.

"Man, I cannot stab that cur enough times for what he has done!" exclaimed Fiordiligi angrily. "I hope he is in the deepest circles of hell!"

"Trust me, after all that, he will be towards the bottom of hell," replied Kuranga tersely.

"Kuranga!" shouted Maria and Gaston at the same time, the two of them both jumping onto the dragon.

"You're okay!" shouted the cat laguz.

"I am alive and well, yes," said Kuranga.

And then, Cecily finished singing the last verse of the galdr. The force field suddenly dissolved, and when the group inched closer to the altar where the goddess had slept for so long, they noticed her emerald orbs fluttering open. And then, she sat up on the altar almost mechanically, long white dress moving with her legs as she daintily stepped off of the altar.

"I have been awoken," said the lady, quite plaintively. "And I sense a powerful evil energy radiating from the north."

"Yes, my goddess," said Cecily, bowing down to what was apparently Sharotal.

"It is Ilemyr, no doubt," said Sharotal, looking at the rest of the group. "You are all friends of Cecily, I assume."

"You assume correctly, goddess," said Ike, bowing down to her.

"And yet you are different," said Sharotal, walking to Ike and setting a hand on her shoulder. "You no doubt knew of my sister Ashunera, who split into Ashera and Yune."

"You're right about that, goddess," said Ike sincerely.

"Please, call me by my name," said the goddess gracefully as she looked at Ike. "I am assuming that they finally got over their differences?"

"No, actually," said the mercenary, setting his bloodied Ragnell's tip on the ground so he could lean against it. "What happened is that Ashera had Yune sealed into a medallion for seven hundred years. And then, when Yune finally awoke, Ashera basically tried to kill us all for not being able to get our heads out of war for two hundred years. So with Yune's assistance, I defeated her."

"Pity," said the goddess, nodding as she regarded her sister's fate. "I always knew that Ashera would eventually be the greater threat to Tellius. That is the one thing I warned her about before I left Tellius forever. And how fares Tellius now?"

"Oh, it was very peaceful when I left," said Ike.

"That is very good to hear," replied Sharotal. "But I digress. Ilemyr waits for us on the Isle of the Ancients."

"Okay, that's great and all, but is there anything we can do about it?" asked Byron.

"Yes," said Cecily. "We must go to the Burial Mountains of Galdor."

"What?" asked Torzukel. "But that is Galdor's most sacred land! To desecrate it would be—!"

"Oh, don't yeh worry none, Governor," said Willie. "We're 'ere wit de goddess, we are!"

"That is correct," said Sharotal. "The sacred weapons of the six founders rest in the Burial Mounds. I am sure they will not be offended when I explain to them that we are in need of using them."

"Okay then," said Gaston. "Can you warp us there?"

"No," said Sharotal. "I can, however, show you the way."

"Then lead us there," said Ike.

Sharotal nodded, and then she walked out of the room with a somewhat dainty spring in her step, Ike and his little group following her out of there as they exited the temple.


	14. Chapter 14: The Sacred Weapons

Hey, guys! I just got a Facebook! Joy!

Anyways, you know the rest. Here's the chapter, and enjoy!

* * *

_**Fiordiligi's rage knew no bounds, and as she slew Alfonso a major part of the cult's resistance outside of Tardal died with it.**_

_**With the goddess Sharotal walking the earth of Greljedo once again, Ike and the group set out for the very same Burial Mountains that they had taken the warp gate to earlier. However, this time they do not have the luxury of being able to go to the mountains immediately, so Ike orders a march at full speed to Galdor in the hopes of getting the weapons before Ilemyr can wake up.**_

_**Kuranga, however, senses something evil waiting for them at the burial mounds, and as they approach the Burial Mountains this feeling only gets worse…**_

Chapter 14: The Sacred Weapons

As Ike walked up the side of the mountain, he looked around, searching for any sign of where the entrance to the mountains was.

"It is not here," said Sharotal, the goddess walking just behind Ike and looking around as well. "We must press forward."

Ike nodded, and he kept on walking.

Maria and Kuranga walked just behind Ike, and the rest of the group walked somewhat behind them as they slowly ascended the mountain. Their army lagged behind just a little, but they were sure they would catch up eventually.

The mountains themselves stood rigid, Ike finding the view from the mountain they were scaling familiar. The clouds hovered overhead, casting down a somewhat gloomy shadow down onto the mountains below as they scaled the mountains.

Ike kept on walking, Willie's complaints being hushed by Fiordiligi as soon as they had been voiced. Finally, however, there was an opening in the mountains, and as Sharotal walked onto the small horizontal platform that lay before the opening, her eyes glowed happily.

"Here we are," said the goddess. "This is the entrance."

"Okay, then," said Ike as the others slowly clambered up onto that platform. "I guess we know what to do here."

Just as Ike was about to step in, however, Kuranga grabbed his shoulder.

"The evil is especially strong now," he said. "It must be this cult, I am certain."

"So we just watch our step then," said Ike.

"The passageway is narrow, however," said Sharotal. "And we need more than one person to carry all of the weapons back."

Ike nodded, closing his eyes and considering Sharotal's information in his mind. After a few seconds of thought, he motioned to his friends.

"Maria, Fiordiligi, Kuranga, Byron," he said simply. "I want you four to come with me. Torzukel and Willie will stay outside. Got it?"

"All right," said Maria.

"Now, let's go in, shall we?" asked Byron.

"Of course," said Sharotal. "Just know that when you decide to 'hit on' the women, as you so chose to call it, then you will be hearing from me about it."

"Ha!" shouted Fiordiligi, bending over with the most mischievous grin in her face and pointing her finger in Byron's face. "I knew you would get that one of these days!"

"Uh, can we focus?" asked Ike. "We should get going here."

"That is true," said Kuranga.

The mercenary walked towards the hole, giving it a good look before motioning to everybody else.

"All right," he said. "Move out!"

Ike entered the cave, followed by Sharotal and everybody else that was going with him, and within a few minutes, they had disappeared altogether.

* * *

The passageway was very dark, water droplets falling from some of the stalactites that hovered precariously overhead. They should have had a torch, but the light emanating from Sharotal's being alone was enough to light the passageway enough for Ike and the company to see.

And they saw a fairly dismal cavern, illuminated only by a faint light at the end of the passageway that begged to be fed more. As they maneuvered past the small stalagmites that had risen, the group looked forward, Kuranga's eyes hardening to a level where he could only see what was in the dark room ahead of them.

Finally, Kuranga stopped, the rest of the group stopping as well as they looked at him.

"Is the evil in the room ahead?" asked Fiordiligi.

"Yes," said Kuranga. "Be cautious. There is a huge pit that we can fall down through."

"You don't think it's serious, do you?" asked Byron.

"Probably not," said Maria. "We have to go through a large platform to get to where the weapons are, right?"

"We should, yes," replied Kuranga. "Sharotal?"

"We should," she asserted. "However, you must take heed; the platform is suspended by chains above a pit that goes into the center of the earth."

"Hoo…" said Maria. "Where have we seen that before?"

"Yeah," said Ike. "Anyways, let us see who the enemy is, yes?"

"Of course," said Sharotal.

The six of them walked forward, and they stopped as the entrance to the room presented itself, taking time to look at what lay ahead of them.

Three dogs were seen circling the platform, two pairs of hawks and two dragons all flying above the platform. The platform itself was dimly lit by the lava that surged some thousands of feet below the platform. The platform merely served as a link to another end, which was where the weapons surely laid. Maria sniffed the air once, and amidst the putrid scent of brimstone she was able to detect something different about them.

"Feral Ones," said Maria.

"Oh, they have Feral Ones here too?" asked Ike, shaking his head.

"Don't tell me they had Feral Ones on Tellius!" said Byron.

"Yes," said Ike. "Somebody invented a drug that could make laguz go mad and lose all sense of self."

"So it was a drug, then," asked Fiordiligi. "And it was only recently developed?"

"Pretty much," said Ike.

"Oh, then you guys were better off than we are," said Kuranga. "Here on Greljedo, the Feral Ones are induced by a demonic spell that enchants them to lose all sense of self."

"Oh," said Ike. "That is true, I guess."

"We must not idle," said Sharotal. "We must get past these laguz."

"But isn't there supposed to be no way to reverse the curse?" asked Ike.

"There is one way," said Sharotal. "If you can divert their attention long enough, I can produce a countercharm that will lift the curse of the Feral Ones off of their souls. However, you must give me time to cast it, and I cannot have my concentration broken."

"So hold these guys off is what you're saying?" asked Byron. "Sure."

"Thank you," said Sharotal.

"Okay, guys, you know what to do," said Ike tersely, Ragnell once again being lifted on his shoulders.

"Move out!"

Ike ran out of the passage and onto the platform, everybody else following in his footsteps. Sharotal stopped running as soon as she stood at the center of the platform, and then a turquoise magic circle appeared underneath her feet as she began running a spell through her mind.

Byron was the first to attack, sword swiping at one of the dogs that was there. Not to be deterred, the dog struck back at its opponent, nearly missing with its massive claws as Byron jumped back. He looked behind him and almost panicked when he found that he was on the edge of the platform, so he carefully jumped around the dog and managed to lure it away from the edge of the platform.

Maria quickly transformed before running at one of the dogs, tossing it to the side so that it was out of her way. However, she realized what a mistake she made when she saw the dog hit the wall of the pit, and as soon as it bounced off of the wall it was sent falling down into the lava below. She mentally slapped herself for being careless, but then both of the hawks got her attention when they swooped down on her, so she swiped her claws at them as she stood at the edge of the platform.

Kuranga also transformed into a massive black dragon, and by himself he was able to fend off both dragons at the same time. Being mindful of Sharotal's advice, he made sure that they were flying above the platform, unsure of whether they would revert to human form or not but making sure that they landed on the platform if Sharotal finished the charm early.

Ike went after the other dog that was prowling around on the platform, dodging its swipes with simple sword blocks as he countered with many sword swipes, most of them missing on purpose. Occasionally, he touched backs with Byron, and the two of them would turn around and switch enemies, a smirk coming on both of their faces as they lunged at the dogs.

For a very long time, there was a huge stalemate between the Feral Ones and Ike's group. However, Fiordiligi, who occasionally healed Maria and Kuranga when they were both in need of healing, was happy with this arrangement, as this was exactly what Sharotal needed to cast her spell successfully.

However, Byron got too full of himself, and when he leapt back to dodge a lunge from one of the dogs, he suddenly found himself jumping straight off of the edge. Fright shot up his spine, and he instinctively dropped his sword and grabbed the ledge, the sword clanging against the walls of the pit and into the lava that waited for it several thousand feet below. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of the general's face as one of the dogs went straight to Byron and barked at him as he hung on the ledge.

"Byron!" yelled Ike, breaking his concentration to send a wave of energy at the dog in the hopes that it would be distracted so it could dodge.

However, he did not count on the other dog that he was fighting to tackle him to the ground. Ike was caught on his back, and his first instinct was to raise his arm above his neck, which proved to be a bad idea as he found the creature's fangs biting down there. Ike ignored the searing pain that flew up his arm at that moment, rolling on to the other side and pinning the dog down.

However, before he could even think clearly, the other dog pounced on Ike, and this time the mercenary laid face up, his throat exposed clearly to the dog. Its mouth lunged for that spot quickly, but Ike, not to be deterred, kneed the dog in the gut, taking that time to run out of the grasp of the two Feral Ones and to Byron. Ike took a hold of Byron's wrists and quickly hoisted him up, the general quick to grab Ike's wrists in return in his fear. When the Feral Ones had pulled Ike back onto the platform, Byron was pulled with them, and all four of them ending up in one giant heap in the center of the platform.

"Ike! Byron!" Fiordiligi shouted, but there was nothing she could do as then the dogs went at the two sword-users despite her best efforts to keep them away. After a few seconds of both of them lunging at the two men, Fiordiligi sank down on her knees, the tears that overcame her cheeks clearly showing her feelings and her head coming to rest on Ragnell's hilt as Maria just then noticed what was happening.

Before the cat laguz was able to do anything, however, Sharotal's eyes suddenly shot open, and the place was bathed in a light turquoise light. Sharotal's eyes flashed for a few seconds, and then a burst of energy came from her being that sent wind flying in all directions.

Pretty soon afterwards, the Feral Ones lost that look in their eyes, and shortly afterwards they transformed out of their laguz states whether they wanted to or not, and then the turquoise light faded.

As Kuranga predicted, the two dragon laguz suddenly fell right onto the platform underneath, and the hawks that hovered overhead temporarily fell down before they regained their composure and flew back to the platform, landing on it soundly. The two beast laguz that were there simply blinked at where they were, crouched over two guys they hardly knew that had bite marks all over their arms.

"What happened?" asked one of the dogs. "Where's Bylen?"

Maria, who had just transformed, cringed at this question. Kuranga, who had also transformed, was pretty sure that this was about the laguz that she accidentally tossed into the lava pit below.

"Oh, crap!" she said, instantly jumping down in front of the two dogs. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"You were all turned into Feral Ones," said Fiordiligi as she healed Ike's wounds. "And then, somehow you wound up in the middle of Galdor on a platform that hangs several thousand feet over a pit of lava."

"Galdor?" asked one of the dragons as he stood up. "But we are prisoners from Tardal!"

"Again, you were turned into the feral ones," said Sharotal.

"Yeah, you can thank her for turning you back," said Ike as he sat up. "And as for your friend?"

"He got tossed into the lava, didn't he?" asked the second dog.

"Yes!" shouted Maria. "I'm sorry! My aim was off! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I—!"

"Calm down, lady!" shouted one of the hawks.

"We know you didn't mean to," said one of the dogs. "But man! I can't believe you did that! You killed him, damn you!"

"Enough!" said Sharotal, her voice booming in the pit and effectively silencing everybody else in the area. "We will have no arguments here!"

"And who are you to be telling us that?" asked the other dog.

"I am your Goddess, who you care for so much," said Sharotal. "Your names are Hadfield and Sanford, right?"

"W-what the?" shot back one of the dogs in shock as both of them literally fell on their backs. "How did you…? Holy… What happened…?"

"I am Sharotal," said the goddess assertively. "And I know everything about the laguz and beorc on this continent."

"Yeah, so can you please just do what we say?" asked Byron.

The two dogs looked at each other before they both looked at Ike, the mercenary leader's eyebrows curved in an assertive stance.

"What should we do?" asked the other dragon.

"There should be some people right outside," said Ike. "Get out of this cave, and tell them what happened. We need to get some stuff in here, so we'll see you outside."

"Whatever you say, boss," said one of the hawk laguz. "Come on guys. Let's get out of here."

The six laguz that were there all walked in the direction of the exit, and Ike and his friends looked at each other, Ike and Byron standing up and nodding.

"Well, let's get those weapons!" said Ike.

The group filed in the direction opposite from where the laguz had all exited, finally getting off of the platform and into a somewhat smaller cave lit an eerie shade of blue by a bunch of crystals that rested on the walls.

* * *

Willie walked outside restlessly as the sun's orange glow bathed the mountains that it was slowly falling behind, Torzukel simply taking to standing still as Byron looked ahead of him.

"My, they really are taking quite a while to get out of there," said Torzukel.

"Yah, Governor," said Willie, jumping nervously as he spoke. "Oh, I 'ope dem blokes are okay!"

"I am sure they will be," said the king of Galdor. "Gaston?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine too," said the raven, flapping his wings just a little. "If those laguz that came out of there told us anything, it's that the rest of them will be out soon."

"I gess yer roight, Governor," said Willie, shrugging.

They waited in silence for a while longer, Willie gazing intently at the sunset and fidgeting around nervously.

"Well, here we are!"

The silence caused Willie to jump a little, and all three of them turned around as they saw Ike, Sharotal, and the rest of the group that had went into the cave stepped out with a bunch of weapons.

"The legendary weapons of the founders," said Sharotal. "They are in our hands once again."

"Okay, that's great!" said Gaston. "Now, who gets to use what?"

Sharotal held up a very slim sword in front of her, the green blade glowing brightly as she held it.

"This is Stobin's sword, Jeglorde," began Sharotal.

"Wait," said Gaston. "Herons used swords?"

"Apparently," said Ike. "I didn't know it either."

"Yes, they did," replied the goddess. "In fact, he was kind enough to teach me the art of the sword. So Jeglorde is my weapon."

"Oh, yeh kin use dem swords, eh?" asked Willie. "Kewl!"

Next, Cecily carried two magic tomes to Willie and Torzukel, motioning to the king to take the tome on top and Willie to take the other tome. The tome Torzukel took was decorated with a white flower that was sewn into the hard leather cover of the tome, and Willie's had a picture of a flame on the cover of the tome that shone of rubies in the sunset.

"And these are…?" asked Torzukel.

"These are the Fleur de Lys and the Rexflame," said Sharotal. "The Fleur de Lys was Galdor's most powerful spell, while the Rexflame was Forgerat's weapon."

"Wet," said Willie, holding a hand out as he looked at the tome. "Yeh dink I kin use dis?"

"You have a great amount of determination," said Cecily, gazing intently at the Cockney boy as she peered into his heart. "That alone will suffice."

"Seffice?" asked Willie.

"That's a good thing," said Ike. "You'll be able to use it."

"Oh," said Willie.

Fiordiligi stepped forwards, and in the place of the healing staff that she had normally used was a staff with several prongs protruding from the area just under the bright emerald orb.

"And this is Gardelia's staff," said Fiordiligi as she stepped forwards.

"Aw, she's a real beauty, she is!" said Willie, stepping forwards in admiration of the staff that the lady held in her hands.

Nobody really said anything for a few seconds afterwards, all of them just a little disturbed by the Cockney boy's actions. After a while, he looked around, shrugging his shoulders wildly.

"Wet did I do?" he asked simply.

"Don't worry about it," said Gaston. "So, what else is in there?"

Byron walked forward, holding a rather ornate lance with a princely jade sitting at its tip.

"And this would be Jargon's lance," said Byron. "This would be called the Chaos Spear, right?"

"Correct," said Sharotal. "It was a gift from Yune before I left Tellius."

"Oh," said Gaston. "Well, that changes quite a bit, yes?"

"Of course," said the goddess. "And now, the only thing left to do is to bless the laguz."

"Sure," said Gaston. "Do I need to transform, or?"

"Yes," said Sharotal. "I have already blessed Maria and Kuranga, so you are the only laguz I need to bless."

"Okay," said Gaston, promptly transforming into his raven form.

Sharotal looked at the raven, and the turquoise magic circle formed under her feet again. After mouthing a chant underneath her breath, the turquoise light emanated from her again, and then Gaston's claws shone a bright green before Gaston returned to his human form, black wings shining green for a moment before the light faded.

"That felt… weird…" said Gaston.

"And now, we must make our way to the Isle of the Ancients," said Sharotal. "Ilemyr awaits our arrival, and we will meet it with force!"

"Oh, I think he waits, but he will certainly be able to resist you this time!"

Before anybody else was able to reply, the familiar red light appeared in front of the group, and Myriel appeared before them, his eyes glowing red and a strange demonic fire surrounding his being.

"Myriel!" said Torzukel immediately. "What is the meaning of this? Why have you betrayed me?"

"You should know the answer to that yourself, murderer!" shouted Myriel, pointing vehemently at his father. "My mother waits in hell for your return!"

"Your mother?" asked Torzukel. "But she died in childbirth!"

"The cult has revealed otherwise!" protested the prince of Galdor. "Your murderous hands are filthy with the blood of the ones you have killed!"

"You are mad…" said Sharotal. "I see no such events, even in the deepest bowels of Torzukel's memory! Those cultists have twisted you!"

"They have not twisted me!" shouted Myriel, turning dangerously at Sharotal. "They have revealed the truth, you ignorant bitch!"

"Hey!" yelled Maria, anger at Myriel evident. "Don't call Sharotal a bitch, you hear? She allowed you to live on here, so don't you dare call her a bitch, got it?"

"I do not care for what you say!" shouted Myriel. "Besides, did you really think the leaders were in control of their own consent?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sharotal. "We defeated that demon, and I made the conditions so that he could never be woken again!"

"Oh, really?" asked Myriel, sitting on the air as he spoke. "Amusing how you think he really did not find a way around that one. Before you even sealed him away, he planted his seeds in the rulers of the nations!"

"What?" asked Sharotal. "But that is impossible!"

"Oh, believe it, my goddess, it is," said Myriel. "Watch."

The branded prince turned his back to his audience, and as soon as he concentrated a small bulb of flame around his fingertip, he motioned in the air, spelling out his name in the air. Then, he turned around and snapped his fingers, after which the letters of Myriel's name suddenly leapt to life, dancing around in the air until they formed the name 'Ilemyr' in the air.

"No…" said Fiordiligi, the pieces of the puzzle coming together in her mind.

"Exactly," said Myriel. "Father, you know the counselor that named me?"

"He was in the cult!" shouted Torzukel angrily.

"Exactly," said the prince. "I am glad that you for once have the intelligence to figure things out. He was the one who would spur the awakening of the demon into his hands. For you see, Ilemyr left the seeds planted in all of the founders of the nation, and the seed was passed on in all of their descendants."

"What?" asked Cecily.

"That blasted Stobin was the only one who was too strong to get the seed in him," said Myriel, his tone of voice suddenly turning contemptuous. "The rest of them had the seeds implanted. Yes, even Hargeld had the seed implanted in him. All I needed to do was to awaken the seed."

"You are mad," said Ike, sapphire orbs projecting an extreme level of hatred. "You don't deserve to be here right now!"

"Oh, let us not be so uncouth, dear sir," said Myriel, his voice projecting in sinister tones as his unnaturally scarlet eyes lit up. "You will have plenty of time to extract your revenge later if you can defeat that demon."

"You really are mad, you know that?" asked Gaston angrily.

"Oh, save your anger," said Myriel. "I wait for you on the Isle of the Ancients. Come, and meet your fate!"

With this, the prince of Galdor warped away, the demonic flames dying almost the instant he warped away.

"Oh, dat blighter ain't gonna get nowere!" shouted Willie angrily. "I'm gonna get 'im, I will!"

"And so am I!" shouted Fiordiligi.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" asked Sharotal. "Let us go to the Isle of the Ancients."

"Yeah, let's!" shouted Maria. "I can't wait to kick this guy's ass!"

Ike said nothing more as the group slowly descended the mountain, taking the steps they had taken into the mountain and exiting the mountains under a veil of darkness that had taken hold of the landscape.


	15. Chapter 15: Silence of the Waves

Well, guys, my laptop crashed, so I have nothing to work with except this document manager and a piece of crap computer at a college. It'll do.

And thanks to the wonders of a college computer, I give you this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_**Sharotal and Ike successfully gained the weapons that would be needed to keep Ilemyr from taking over Greljedo. However, Myriel appears to them and informs them of the fact that the leaders consented due to a seed planted by the demon himself thousands of years ago.**_

**_With this new knowlege of their opponent, Ike and company set off to the Isle of the Ancients, located just north-west of Tardal, hoping to stop Myriel before Ilemyr can be summoned. They reach Tardal without running into a single unit of resistance. This time, they know very well why there is no resistance._**

**_As the group nears the stretch of ocean that separates the Isle of the Ancients from the rest of Tardal, they grow weary of the relentless march that they had taken. Seeing this, Ike decides they should take a break._**

_**And so, just before they reach the sea-based journey, Cecily hires a boatswain from Stobin via Bonnie, and Ike orders a halt to the march.**_

_**Taking advantage of this opportunity, the army bonds in the brief calm before the storm that is fast approaching...**_

Chapter 15: Silence of the Waves

Ike sat in his tent, staring at Ragnell and wondering how it had not needed sharpening at all the entire war.

Even after several years of using Ragnell, Ike still wondered how it had managed to stay in such good shape through every use. He figured that Ashera's blessing had something to do with it, but he was still unsure of exactly what caused the sword to stay in such great shape forever.

The mercenary just sighed, standing up and laying Ragnell against one of the tent poles, bare chest glistening with sweat in the late afternoon sun. Despite the fact that there was a fairly cold breeze going through the area, it was still rather hot, and Ike was pretty sure it was the sun.

Before he could exit the tent, however, he heard somebody tap lightly on the flap of his tent. Ike's sapphire eyes gazed over at the opening somewhat curiously.

"Come in!" said Ike.

The tent flap opened to reveal Maria's lavender orbs staring at him.

"Hi," said Maria. "You busy right now?"

"No," said Ike. "Come in."

The cat laguz walked right in, her tail swishing as she sat down on the ground. The mercenary sat down next to her when she sat, and when Maria lightly adjusted her position on the floor, Ike cleared his throat.

"You know, I've been wondering..." said Maria. "This friend of yours that you left Tellius with..."

"Soren?" asked Ike.

"Yeah," said Maria. "I wonder... would I like him...?"

Ike looked away from Maria as he contemplated her question. He had not thought of Soren in so long that to think about what he would do in such a situation was a foreign concept to him.

"He would probably have a fairly bad impression of you," he said finally. "He has fairly bad impressions of everybody."

"Especially if you bring up the mark?" asked Maria.

"Yes," replied Ike, chuckling at how quick Maria caught on to what he was saying. "But if you open up to him... I think he'd be fine."

Maria looked at Ike, her head leaning on her shoulders and her eyes shining with a curious light about them.

"You're not sure about what he would do, would you?" asked Maria.

"No," Ike admitted, sighing heavily. "It's been so long since I last thought of him."

"I'm sorry," said Maria suddenly, her ears falling to the sides of her head as she abruptly stood up. "I shouldn't have brought that up, should I?"

"No," said Ike, standing up as well and grabbing her hand before she could walk out. "I..."

The mercenary paused when he saw how awkward the situation looked right then. Maria had a slight blush set against her face as she looked at him, and he let go as he did everything in his power not to have his cheeks become the same color as Maria's cheeks.

"I'm sorry," said Ike, abruptly sitting back down on the ground. "I shouldn't have done that."

"No, don't worry about it," said the cat laguz, getting onto the ground so that she was balancing on the balls of her feet. "It's..."

There was an awkward silence in the vicinity, and the two of them looked at each other, Ike shifting uncomfortably as he looked at Maria.

Finally, the silence was unbearable and Ike let out a nervous laugh.

"Well, leave it to the awkward silence to reveal stuff about you," said Maria loudly against Ike's laughter.

The instant Ike stopped laughing, he gazed at Maria, cobalt eyes shining in adoration of the female before him.

"So you really do care a lot about me, don't you?" asked Ike.

Maria was slightly taken aback by this question, but the only way she showed it was with her eyes.

"Who told you?" she asked.

"Cecily hinted that you would," said Ike, pointing a finger in the air.

"Should have figured she would," said Maria, looking at a point beyond the tent flap that Ike could not see. "She can go and peer into people's hearts just like that, you know?"

"Yeah," said Ike. "Now, do you, or do you not?"

The cat laguz turned back to face Ike, and there was a brief silence before she nodded, blushing madly as she revealed her feelings.

The mercenary simply stared at Maria, watching the blush and noticing how lovely the contrast between red and violet was on her face. Without thinking about it, Ike reached out for Maria's arm, and surprise showed in her lavender eyes as he pulled her into a hug.

"I care about you too," said Ike, Maria staring ahead of her in shock as her face laid against his bare chest, the mucles just rubbing up against the surprisingly rosy feel of her cheek.

There was another short silence before Maria slowly wrapped her arms around the mercenary, shifting around a little bit to make herself more comfortable.

"It's just, you know," said Maria. "We've held through for each other on this quest. You know?"

"Yeah," said Ike, nodding curtly.

Another silence took hold of the tent before Maria shifted slightly against Ike's chest so that she could look up at him.

"Ike?" asked Maria.

"Yeah?" asked the mercenary, gazing into the violet eyes of the laguz in his arms.

"Do you think we'll be able to kill that demon?" asked Maria. "I don't think we'll be able to."

Ike cracked a smile, chuckling as the arm around Maria's back patted her three times.

"Evil doesn't win if we're here," said Ike. "Just know that so long as there are guys opposing an evil force, the evil will never win."

Maria snuggled into the hug, closing her eyes and smiling contentedly as her grasp on the mercenary tightened.

"Thanks," said the cat laguz. "I've been feeling unsure of a lot of things."

"So have I, actually," said Ike. "I haven't seen Soren at all. I don't think he's alive anymore."

"Oh, shut it, you!" barbed Maria playfully as she lightly patted Ike's chest. "He'll be somewhere safe. Maybe we'll find him on another land, waiting for you like the friend I'm sure he is. We'll find him. I know we will."

"Thanks Maria," said Ike.

The two of them sat in the tent, the silence in the tent saying everything else that needed to be said at that particular moment in time.

* * *

In another tent at around the same time, Willie was thumbing through his new Rexflame tome, reviewing the language and muttering it under his breath. Bonnie slept on a small pile of cloth close by as Willie studied

The Cockney boy found that saying the spell's chants under his breath helped his memory massively when it came down to having to memorize spells quickly. He had struggled a lot in magic until he had inadverdently realized that he was better off memorizing the chants than yelling them aloud. In his mind, Willie found that his accent did not get in the way of the intricate syllables, and so he made it a point to read each spellbook he recieved until he could read it forwards and backwards in quick succession before he put the tome away.

As Willie thumbed through the tome in his time that he took to memorize the chant, he got a knock on his tent flap. Willie glanced up briefly, and seeing the shadow at the tent flap, he turned back to his tome.

"Kem in, Governor," he said tersely.

The tent flapped open, and when Willie looked up he found Fiordiligi standing in the tent with her staff in her hand.

"Ah!" he yelled, abruptly standing up. "I kalled yeh 'Governor'! I didn't mean no 'arm! 'Onest!"

"Spare yourself the trouble," said Fiordiligi quickly, a hint of anger just steaming out of her voice. "You can call me anything you want and I will still respond."

The hint of anger in her voice was subtle, but Willie picked it up nevertheless. He looked at Fiordiligi with a somewhat curious expression on his face.

"Byron, ain't it?" asked Willie.

The lady sighed a hefty sigh as she looked at Willie, shaking her head as her hand ran through the golden curls that held on to her head.

"He is just so perverted!" said Fiordiligi. "I cannot stand it anymore! He stripped in front of me in his tent!"

"O', relly?" asked Willie. "Well, dat dere blighter is wet I like to spit et wen I ain't got novin' better teh do, 'e is!"

"What do you mean by that?" asked the lady, suddenly driving her staff into the ground with a force such that it drove itself into the ground. "Why do you even bother trying to stand up for me? It all goes back to their pride in one way or another! That is no different from you trying to stand up for me all the time!"

"Wet?" asked the Cockney boy, offended at what Fiordiligi had just said. "But I ain't got none ev dis 'pride' in me, I doesn't! I jes' 'ate people dat dink dey can go right and step all over blokes like us wivout problem, dat's all!"

"And that is inborn pride!" yelled Fiordiligi, finger flying into Willie's face in her anger.

There was a tense silence, Fiordiligi breathing heavily in her anger and Willie frozen in place in his fear. Finally, she let out a sigh, dropping her shoulders and getting her fingers out of Willie's face as she plopped down onto the ground.

"I apologize," she said quickly. "The pressure is just too much. Alfonso was evil the entire time, my lovers betrayed both Dorabella and I, and now I am goign up against an evil demon bent on taking this goddess-forsaken continent. What am I to do?"

Willie stared at the lady for a few seconds, looking at her as she breathed unsteadily on the ground, emerald orbs gazing off into space.

After a while, Willie sat down next to the lady, scooting close to her and wrapping one arm around her.

"'Ey," he began. "Deh sun be up dere roight now, yeh no? As long as det sun be up dere, we'll be good. Yeh no wet I mean, mu'um?"

"I suppose you are correct," said Fiordiligi, sighing lightly.

There was another short silence before Fiordiligi looked to Willie, two pairs of jade eyes meeting within the canvas of the tent.

"Willie," said the lady. "I miss Dorabella. And now, I realize she will never have a funeral. What am I to do?"

The Cockney boy looked at her for a while before his other arm came around and pulled Fiordiligi in close. His eyes closed rather slowly, Fiordiligi staring ahead of her for a few seconds.

"I'm 'ere, mu'um," he said. "Don't yeh worry none."

After Willie said this, Fiordiligi found the will to bring her own arms around Willie, and so her arms snaked under his shoulders and took a hold of them as she gazed down at the ground behind the Cockney boy.

* * *

Ike abruptly woke up to a knock at his tent.

Somewhat sleepily, he sat up, groaning uncomfortably as he rubbed his head.

"What?" he asked.

"You might want to get out of there fast, man!" came Maria's voice from the other side of the tent flap. "The boatswain's here!"

The mention of the boatswain was enough to wake Ike up very quickly, and he suddenly reached for his shirt where it lay on one of the tent poles.

"I'll be right there!" shouted Ike.

The quick flight of footsteps away from the tent reached Ike's ears as he grabbed his cape from the other end of the tent and fitted it around his neck. Grabbing Ragnell, Ike took off from out of his tent, running past trees and the other tents in the army as he ran as fast as he could to meet the boatswain.

When he arrived at the shore, he found Cecily, Byron, Torzukel, and Maria all standing off to one side with two men standing closer to the ship. Ike walked closer to them, realizing there was something familiar about the boatswain. He could not quite place exactly what it was that was familiar about him, so he walked forward as Cecily noticed his presence.

"Oh, he has arrived," said Cecily. "Sirs, this is sir Ike of Crimea."

"Crimea?" asked one of the two men that were close to the boat. "Never heard of it."

"Niether have I," said the other man. "That there be some man you've got."

"Okay, can you tame your homosexual urges until _after_ we've negotiated a price?" asked Byron, gesturing quickly as Ike stood next to Cecily.

"Okay, okay," said the second man.

It was then that Ike noticed that their facial features were familiar. He had seen the first man's grey hair somewhere before, as he did for the second man's dirty lime-colored hair. He also felt their eyes were familiar and the clothes were familiar, but he was worried more about what it meant than anything else.

"So," said Cecily. "If you take us to the Isle of the Ancients and back, we will pay you around one thousand gold."

"A thousand?" asked the first man, disbelief crossing his features quickly. "That ain't good enough."

"One thousand five hundred?" asked Torzukel.

"That ain't good enough either," said the second man. "Think higher!"

"Uh... three thousand?" asked Byron quickly.

"That ain't it, but you be gettin' close," said the first man.

And then, an idea occurred to Ike about a value that would satisfy both the greed he had realized was so familiar about these men, and that would help recap his memory.

"How about ten thousand?" asked the mercenary.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" exclaimed the first man quickly. "We only deserve the best, you know?"

And then, the familiarity hit Ike with a staggering force. However, the only reaction Ike took was to glare at the boatswains, pure hate seething in his eyes. Only Cecily noticed this change of mood.

"Ike?" asked Cecily. "Is something wrong?"

"These are not the kind of people you want a ride from, Cecily," said Ike.

Without further prompting, Ike walked towards the two boatswains, pointing Ragnell at their throats.

"Ike!" shouted Byron nervously. "What are you doing? This is our ticket to the Isle!"

"Where's Soren?" barked Ike loudly.

"Who are you talking about, sir?" asked the first boatswain. "I don't know of a 'Soren'! Honest!"

"You can't lie to me," said Ike, gritting his teeth in a mix of hatred and rage. "You drove us right into that storm!"

Ike turned to Maria, the anger still seething in his eyes.

"Maria?" he asked. "You know the boat that crashed onto that beach so many months ago?"

"Yeah," said Maria.

"That was their last boat!" exclaimed Ike. "They drove it right into a storm, locked me in the hull of the ship, and left me there to drown in the waters!"

Cecily gasped, and the boatswains both looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces as Ike turned back to face them.

"I'll ask this only one more time," said Ike, the rage slowly consuming his being. "Where is he?"

"You won't be finding him here, that's for sure," blurted the second boatswain. "He be down in the bottom of the ocean right about now. We tied him to the crow's nest, you know?"

"Hey!" shouted the first boatswain, physically turning around and glaring daggers at his companion.

But it was too late, for the shock had hit everybody. Cecily gasped again, Maria also gasping as Torzukel and Byron took a step back.

But it was Ike who had the worst reaction. He staggered back as if he were drunk, dropping Ragnell on the ground as he covered his mouth with his right hand, shock raging in his sapphire orbs as he knelt on the ground.

"Why?" asked Cecily, her jade eyes taking on an infuriated hue as she glared at the two boatswains. "Why do you have such low regard for life?"

"Girl, you find that you get the best money when you kill your guests," said the first boatswain. "It's easier; you get their fortune, and it didn't even plan on getting to you in the first place."

"Why, I'll never!" shouted Byron angrily, grabbing his lance as he stared at the two boatswains vehemently. "You're going down for what you did to Ike!"

Before either boatswain could react, Byron leapt into the air, and his lance dove straight into the chest of the second boatswain, the first boatswain widening his eyes in panic as he ran towards Cecily.

Byron, figuring that he would want Cecily as a hostage, quickly tossed his lance at the first boatswain, and it sailed straight through the boatswain's neck, effectively sending his head flying from his body.

The general huffed angrily for a few seconds before looking back at his friends. Cecily and Torzukel were both staring at Byron in disbelief, and when the general shrugged his shoudlers Torzukel let out a somewhat heavy sigh.

"Byron, you do realize that this was completely unnecessary, right?" asked Torzukel.

"What?" asked Byron. "They could have killed us!"

"And then who would have taken us to the Isle?" asked Cecily.

"I can man one of these things," said Byron. "And if the crew even thinks of mutinying, I'm going to kill them all."

Ike, still too shocked about Soren's fate, did not seem to hear Byron's words. Sensing this, Maria walked over to Ike and knelt next to the mercenary where he was staring at the ground.

"Ike?" asked Maria.

He looked at her briefly, sapphire eyes betraying a great sadness before he suddenly grappled Maria, his head resting against her shoulder as he held her tight.

"Maria..." he said as the first tear trickled down the side of his face.

The cat laguz knelt there for a few seconds, dumbfounded at what she had just seen Ike do.

But then, realizing he was only human and that such a reaction was expected to such news, she wrapped her own arms around Ike's shuddering figure as he cried into her shoulders.

"There, there..." said Maria soothingly into Ike's ear. "I'm here."

Ike continued to cry into his friend's shoulder, not caring if anybody else saw. For in that moment, all that existed in his mind was the image of Soren's dead body being tied to a crow's nest that lodged itself at the bottom of the sea.

* * *

As the army slowly moved their things onto the now-vacant ship, Ike sat on a rock to the side, his cobalt hair bieng in his hand's vice grip as he stared forwards.

The shock of finding out about Soren's fate had gotten to Ike such that he declined to direct the army into the boat. Thankfully, Torzukel was more than willing to do this simple task, but poor Ike was still wondering how Soren could have died in such a manner.

It was hard to believe, really. Maria had made the grieving part so much easier, and Byron had killed them before they could say anything else, so Ike knew he could rest easily on that. Now, all that was left to deal with was the disbelief.

And Ike was pretty sure he was dealing with the disbelief incorrectly.

As he looked at the people moving the things on the ship with his eyes open wide, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He looked behind him to find Maria, Willie, and Fiordiligi all standing behind him.

"You okey dere?" asked Willie.

"I'm fine," said Ike, turning to face the people loading the cargo onto the ship.

"You certainly do not look fine, sitting there and staring ahead of you like a wounded animal," said Fiordiligi, sitting down next to Ike.

"Yeah," said Maria, sitting on the other side of Ike. "We're friends, remember? You can tell us everything that's bothering you."

Ike sighed heavily, the gloominess returning to his expression as he laid his arms on his knees. As soon as Willie had sat down next to Fiordiligi, Ike spoke.

"It's just so hard to believe he's... gone..." began the mercenary. "You know?"

"'Ey, it 'appens to es all sometimes, yeh no, Governor?" asked Willie. "Me pals be dyin' in deh streets all deh time, and vree days go right by me 'fore I notice dey really ain't gonna not come back."

"I know what you mean," said Ike, gripping his hair once again as Maria laid an arm across his back. "It's just... crazy..."

"In what sense of the word?" asked Fiordiligi.

The mercenary gulped lightly, almost as if to swallow his fears about opening his world up to the others.

"I should have died well before he did," began Ike. "Soren was the son of a dragon laguz and a mad king. Right before we defeated Ashera, he said he was scared because he didn't want me to die on him."

"Ah," said Maria. "Damn it, I hate it when situations are ironic!"

"So do I," replied Fiordiligi softly. "But that is not the point. This friend of yours was special?"

"I..." began the mercenary slowly. "He..."

"'E was yer best pal, ain't 'e?" asked Willie.

"Yes, that's it," said Ike, sitting up on the rock that he had sat on. "He was my best friend. I remember the first time we met, where nobody treated him like he existed. I treated him like somebody, and so he clung to me. We were together all the time after that. We were there for each other through all of our hard times, and we always spoke easily to each other. It's hard to deal with a death like that, you know? He was the brother that I never had..."

There was a tense silence for a few seconds, before Fiordiligi turned to Ike, emerald orbs gazing into Ike's cobalt locks of hair.

"I remember when I had to deal with Dorabella's death," said the lady. "I could not and still cannot believe that she is dead. But after a while, I realized that you cannot dwell on that disbelief. After all, when I die, I am certain that I will see her again. Maybe the same will be for you and Soren. We will all die eventually, and at least now we can be certain that your friend will not have to wait for an eternity to be with you again."

Ike looked up, taking in Fiordiligi's words and nodding.

"You know, you're right," said the mercenary. "That was his biggest worry, being without me forever."

"Yeah, I'm sure," said Maria.

"I still cannot believe he's dead," said Ike. "But I know that if he is dead, at least he's in good hands."

"Dat's des sperit, Governor!" exclaimed Willie.

"Yeah," said Ike, finally standing up for the first time in hours and suddenly noticing that nobody was loading anything anymore.

"Well, are we ready to whoop Myriel's butt all the way to hell and back?" asked Maria.

"Of course!" said Ike. "Let's go!"

Fiordiligi smiled as they walked away from the rock, the four of them boarding the ship that was headed for the Isle of the Ancients. As soon as they stepped onto the ship, the gangplank was removed from the surface of the ship, and then Ike and his company were headed towards their battle to liberate Greljedo from the clutches of Ilemyr's Knights.


	16. Chapter 16: The Demon Ilemyr

And it looks like my laptop died. That's okay, though. I have another laptop waiting for me anyways, and besides, my dad saved some of my files, so I should be fine.

And once again thanks to the wonders of a college computer, I give you this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**_The Isle of the Ancients has a rich history of religiously inclined ceremonies of Tardal. It is where the Jubilee festival is held every year, and it is the site of thousands of pilgrimages. However, it is also Ilemyr's home, and it is by the same token a hotbed of cult activity. Thus, Ilemyr's Knights have commanded strange rituals within the forests of the isle for century upon century._**

**_It is this island that Byron successfully steers the ship to after he kills the boatswains who, if not for Ike's sudden realization, would have drowned the entire group in the bottom of the ocean and run off with the money._**

**_As soon as the isle is within sight, something immediately feels out of place, and Sharotal is suddenly quiet about the evil on the island. As soon as they land, they find out exactly what Sharotal is worried about..._**

Chapter 16: The Demon Ilemyr

Ike was the last person to step off of the gangplank, and when he noted the charred forests surrounding him, he could not help but stare at Sharotal, who was flanked by Cecily, Torzukel, and Kuranga. Maria, Willie, and Fiordiligi were all standing there admiring the damage as Byron and Gaston stretched on a small patch of ground close to the boat.

"Is this what you didn't want to talk about?" asked Ike as he approached the goddess.

"Yes," said Sharotal.

"What?" asked Byron as he held one of his arms close to his chest in a stretching motion. "It's just a bunch of trees."

"I don't know," said Maria. "It smells like there's a bit of burnt flesh farther in."

"The energies coming from the center of the island are black as the night," said Kuranga, stepping forward from behind Sharotal. "There is much to worry about.

"It is the cult," said Sharotal. "They burnt down the forest."

"I can see that," said Fiordiligi. "We should go now."

"I couldn't agree with you more," said Gaston, who walked into the woods. As soon as he entered, however, he immediately stumbled back, holding his nose and with his eyes screwed into a frown.

"Damn!" he shouted. "It smells more like burnt flesh here! And something else!"

"What would that somethign else be?" asked Cecily.

"Rope," replied the raven.

There was a short pause as Ike walked into the woods, also retreating and waving his hand in front of his face.

"Damn!" shouted the mercenary. "That does smell like burnt flesh!"

"Oh, I was hoping they would not," said Sharotal woefully. "But they must have done it."

"Done wet?" asked Willie.

"Tied themselves to the trees while the forest burned, obviously," said Fiordiligi, face contorted into a slight grimace at the thought.

"'Ey!" yelled the Cockney boy as he glared daggers at Fiordiligi.

"She is correct," replied the goddess.

"Augh!" shouted Byron. "That's terrible!"

"Not only that," said Torzukel. "The demon should awaken soon."

"It might," added Kuranga. "The evil energies are getting stronger by the minute."

"Well, den wet're we waitin' fer?" asked Willie. "Let's move our bloomin' arses in dere!"

"Yeah, let's go!" said Ike.

"Wait!" shouted Maria just as the mercenary began walking into the forest. "We need a plan!"

"We'll think of one when we get there," replied Ike. "Or who knows? Maybe we won't need a plan of attack."

"Whatever!" shouted Fiordiligi. "We need to move here, and we need to move now!"

There was a brief pause as everybody looked at the lady.

"Being quite the assertive one, aren't you?" asked Torzukel. "I think you are beginning to take after Willie."

"And just what might you be implying?" asked Fiordiligi, hands placed on her hips as she glared at the king of Galdor.

"Guys, this isn't the time or the place to argue about this!" said Ike as he reentered the forest. "Come on!"

The group did a double-take about Ike being in the forest, and no sooner had they seen him go than Maria darted into the woods after him.

With a shrug, Willie and Fiordiligi followed them both, the rest of the group stepping into the charred remains of the forest shortly afterwards.

* * *

Ike and Maria both sifted through burnt foilage as the rest of the group trailed behind them, the burnt foilage crumbling under their touch as they pressed forwards.

The journey had been pretty scary for just about everybody involved. There were indeed a few carcases left there rotting when they had showed up, and one time Ike had scared the buzzards away from one corpse that really did not burn all that well. To be sure, it was a disturbing sight, the sight of a burnt body contrasting against the dark floor of the forest, but they had only taken a moment to glimpse at it before they were on their way again as they were well aware of the fact that time was short.

And eventually, they came across a huge clearing in the forest where there stood a massive stone building. The base of the brown stone building stretched so that it almost covered the entire clearing, and the building itself also seemed to stretch up very high, its spires almost reaching the heavens. The rest of the group caught up, Sharotal taking a place behind Ike.

"This is my temple," she said. "This is the place where Ilemyr is about to be awakened."

"Oh, so he's going to wake up for sure now?" asked Byron.

"The evil energies are unbearable..." replied Kuranga, who was now holding his head due to a massive headache that despite Fiordiligi's best efforts to heal with her staff was still reigning supreme in his head.

"I kin see dat, Governor," said Willie, suddenly noticing an eerie red light radiating from the temple.

"Oh, no," said Cecily. "That is the seal, is it not?"

"Then that means we've gotta get in there!" shouted Byron as he burst forth from the foilage and ran towards the building.

"Hey!" shouted Ike as he too broke through the foilage and ran after the general. "Wait up!"

The rest of the group struggled to keep up with the general as they all ran into the building after him.

And as soon as they ran into the building, they found that within the vast space of the temple that they were in that Myriel stood, his arms wide open as if in greeting.

"So you did come after all," said Myriel loudly as Sharotal took her place behind Torzukel. Ike stepped forwards, coming from behind Byron as he walked up to Myriel.

"What do you hope to get with all this?" asked Ike.

"My mother waits in the underworld," said the prince of Galdor. "With Ilemyr's magic, I can bring her back into the realm of the living!"

"Insanity!" yelled Torzukel, coming from where he stood behind Byron with an angry determination burning in his eyes. "You barely even knew your mother!"

"And you, sir," said the prince. "You lied when you killed her!"

"I sense no such sins laying in his soul," rebuked Sharotal as she also came forward.

"Oh?" asked Myriel, stepping back in an amused surprise. "Well, this is precious! The goddess is lying for his sake! How amusing!"

"Silence!" shouted Fiordiligi, effectively stopping the laughter that Myriel began to emit as she stepped forward from behind Maria. "Sharotal is not a liar!"

"Enough is enough, Myriel," said Torzukel angrily, taking his Fleur de Lys tome out from under his robes as he walked towards Myriel.

"Your weapon?" asked the prince, tilting over in mock surprise at his father. "You really think you have the ability to fight your son?"

"The Myriel I knew is a thing of the past," replied Torzukel, rage burning in his golden orbs as he stepped forward. "Now, there is a man in his place that I barely even know. If I must fight you, then so be it!"

"Torzukel, are you sure you should do this?" asked Ike, Ragnell still resting on his shoulders as he looked at the king with a concerned expression on his face.

"This is my battle," said the king of Galdor almost poetically. "If he says I lied to him, let him try to find proof in Sharotal's court."

"You truly believe you can defeat me, you impudent fool?" asked Myriel, one of his hands raised high. "I shall prove you wrong."

"Then let us begin," said Torzukel, who also raised his hand in the air.

"Be careful," said Byron, before everybody next to Torzukel fled his side to watch from the safety of a nearby pillar.

"The one who dies is the loser," said the prince of Galdor.

"Those conditions are implied," said the king of Galdor.

"Then eat this!" yelled the prince almost uncharacteristically.

The razors burst forth from behind him, and Torzukel had already summoned a shield that caused all of the razors to fly in random directions.

The king then raised his own arms high, closing his eyes and running a chant through his mind as a powerful light engulfed the space of the temple. Ike and the crew had to cover their eyes to keep themselves from being blinded, and then when Ike brought his arm away, he saw two blades made of pure light zooming at a spot that Ike was very sure was where Myriel was. And then, a scream of pain greeted them all as the light dimmed and Myriel panted, gripping his arm where a huge gash had been forced into his skin, his own eyes burning with rage and his knees bent in a crouching position.

"Is that the best you can do?" taunted Torzukel.

"No," replied Myriel simply, standing up with a crazed look in his eyes. "This is!"

The prince raised his hand, andthen the arena was covered in total darkness. When Ike's eyes adjusted, he saw all manner of hellhounds and monsters emerge from within the darkness, rushing towards a point before he saw the same light from the Fleur de Lyse engulf the area once again, the blades of light clashing against all of the monsters from hell as the area became nothing but a huge light show where the hounds of darkness bit at the blades of light, which in turn slashed at the creatures. The forces of light and darkness duked it out for domination as Ike and the group watched from behind the pillar, the blades of light sometimes leaving a scar on the architecture.

"Bly me, look it all dem lights!" exclaimed an amazed Willie.

"Oh, I hope Torzukel is all right," said Cecily briefly as one of the hounds was felled by the blades of light.

"He should be," replied Kuranga cooly. "The man is very determined."

Another hellhound was felled as the blades of light swirled in the air, but then one of the hellhounds swallowed one of the blades, eliminating both itself and one of its agressors in one stroke.

"That's not a good sign," said Maria.

And immediately after she said this, the group noticed the only remaining blade beginning to dance in the air as if it was being held by a demented warrior.

"And you don't think that's a good sign either?" asked Byron incredulously.

"That's better," said Maria softly, nodding as they continued to watch.

And like this, the blade of light staved off all of the rest of the hellhounds, going in for a kill whenever it could. And through this, the utter darkness slowly began to wane against the light of the blade.

"I feel the spirit of triumph in him," said Sharotal.

"Who?" asked Byron. "Torzukel, or Myriel?"

"Torzukel," replied the goddess as another monster was slain. "I see some regret in there, too."

"He's holding back!" shouted the general suddenly, coming out from behind the pillar.

"Byron, wait!" yelled Fiordiligi as the general jumped on one of thehellhounds and stabbed it in the back with the Chaos Spear. It howled before it dematerialized in the air, the general falling onto the ground.

"Oh, dere 'e goes," said Willie, rolling his eyes as Byron got up and stabbed another monster that rushed at him. "'E be a real bad blighter like dat."

"He shall be fine," said the goddess. "It is not his time yet."

And then, Byron slashed at another hellhound as the blade killed the last remaining monster and the light reigned supreme.

"Now!" yelled Byron. "Do it now!"

The blade of light suddenly zoomed towards another location, and when it struck its target, a piercing scream went through the air, and then the light gave way to reveal Myriel, grasping his chest in pain as a huge hole penetrated his guts in front of the very pillar that Ike and the group happened to be hiding behind.

As the prince of Galdor slowly slouched down against the pillar, Ike and company came from behind the pillar to see the prince of Galdor, Torzukel and Byron both walking up towards him as the life left his eyes.

"There," said Byron. "He's gone. You okay Torzukel?"

"I'm fine," said the king of Galdor, his yellow eyes betraying a kind of sadness. "I will miss my son, but not the man I killed today."

"Then why are you grieving?" asked a voice that seemed to emanate from nowhere.

Before anybody could wonder what was going on, a red light suddenly glowed from Myriel's eyes, and then he was telepathically lifted into the air.

"Who are you?" asked Ike, getting straight to the point. "Where are you?"

"At the moment I'm nowhere and everywhere at the same time," said the disembodied voice. "And you were fools to think that I hadn't escaped that seal earlier."

Before the mercenary could give voice his thoughts, the temple was suddenly lit in an eerie red light that emanated from Myriel's body. And then, the prince of Galdor's corpse was dropped face-first on the ground behind the group.

As they turned to face the corpse, a stalk covered with blood suddenly rose out from Myriel's back, and from this a strange black smoke suddenly levitated from it, and it materialized into a very different sort of man.

The man seemed to be clothed in darkness, and the darkness covered his face such that the only thing that one could see were his scarlet eyes that betrayed a great sense of evil from the deepest depths of his being. The darkness remained around him, the only flesh that he seemed to have being the feet that were at the bottom of his being.

"Ilemyr," began Sharotal.

"Ah, my dear Sharotal," began the demon in a silky voice that was laced with sinister intentions. "I was hoping I could see you again, to tell you to your face that you never can keep a man sealed in one place for too long. And now, here I am, free again. The way it should be, you see."

"You deserve to be sealed for all eternity!" cried the goddess. "You mercilessly slaughtered thousands of the continent's inhabitants! You do not deserve to run free!"

"Oh, but my dear Sharotal, don't be so uptight," said Ilemyr as he walked forwards. "They would not stop warring, and they wouldn't let me sleep in peace. You tell me what you would have done!"

The goddess suddenly turned quiet, eyes casting down towards the floor.

"Ha," said the demon. "So you cannot answer that? I'll bet that sister of yours could not have answered that question, even though she flooded the entire world! No, I saved Greljedo from certain destruction from that fiend's flood."

"And then you killed everybody else afterwards!" replied Sharotal angrily. "You kept them alive so you could kill them for your own pleasure!"

"I grow bored of talking about that," said Ilemyr coolly. "Let us talk about how I escaped."

"You used Myriel as a host!" accused Ike angrily.

"For a mortal, you are quite the good guesser," replied Ilemyr. "Firstly, I was not talking with you, so if you want to ask anything else I suggest you do not intrude on my conversations. Secondly, such a rude approach you made towards one of my stature. You must be punished."

Ilemyr lifted a finger, and suddenly Ike felt the worst pain shooting through his muscles much like Don Alfonso had inflicted. However, this time the pain was much worse, and he could not even scream as he felt his body crumple uselessly on the floor.

"Ike!" yelled Maria, running to his side as suddenly the pain evaporated from his body.

"Thirdly, you are correct," said the demon. "He showed you the similarities between my name and his name. Indeed, that was where the seed for my awakening was planted. And from there, you could say I migrated towards that seed, I mean, I do say that my seed and the seal I was kept in were the same thing, so that did not change much of anything. I take it you may not have thought of that, Sharotal."

"But why did it have to be my son?" asked Torzukel.

"I was not talking to you either," replied Ilemyr as Maria helped Ike up onto his feet. "But since you asked politely, I shall say that the chancellor that was in the cult casted a spell on him when he was an infant. Thus, when he came of age I was able to posess him. Poor impudent fool never knew what hit him when I took over his mind."

"Enough!" cried Sharotal. "You have done enough to this continent! Do not do anything more, or you will face my wrath!"

"Do I honestly need to elaborate?" asked Ilemyr. "I will not do as you say, especially after you kept me in that seal for so many years! And now, the time for my retribution has come! Stand back, Goddess! I am prepared for you!"

And then, before Sharotal was able to wink, Ilemyr raised his hands and summoned a huge army of monsters and hellhounds behind him.


	17. Chapter 17: Light

Wow. I did not get anything done with this at all during EMF this year. But that's fine, because I sure had a good time wtihout it anyways!

But I'm almost finished with this book anyways, so let's get the epic battle with the demon on, now, shall we? And when I say epic, I mean fucking epic. You know? Crazy stuff happens.

Anyways, epic battle away!

* * *

Chapter 17: Light

Ilemyr smirked briefly before all of the hellhounds that he had summoned rushed forth at the goddess.

However, Sharotal had anticipated this, and thus she quickly raised her arms, putting up a shield that sent some of the monsters reeling back and others flying all over the place. However, it also ensured that Ike and his friends were sent everywhere at once, and then they all layed down scattered behind Ilemyr, Ike having landed right next to where Myriel's body was.

As he stood up, rubbing his head and staring as the hellhounds ran towards Sharotal, Maria, who had landed a short distance away, came running to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked as soon as she was by Ike's side.

"I'm fine," said Ike, suddenly noticing that Willie and Fiordiligi were also running towards him.

"Man, dat be crazy dere," began the Cockney boy. "I den't no wet's up wiv 'im."

"You mean 'her'," corrected Fiordiligi quickly. "To be honest, I am not so sure either..."

"Wet?" asked Willie, gesturing as Gaston and Cecily both came up to them at the same time. "I wan't tawkin' 'bout Sharotel, I'm sure."

"Oh," said the lady, placing a hand on her breast. "I'm sorry."

"We do need to help the goddess..." said Gaston. "Look."

They saw the dazzling sight before them with awe: Ilemyr's beasts all ran at the goddess, but Sharotal sent them all away with dazzling rays of green light that bent into the space they were enclosed in. In addition, she deflected some of the beasts with cleverly timed shields. Despite her best efforts, however, she was still outmatched by Ilemyr's beasts, and so, the arena was darkened, Sharotal sustaining a few cuts here and there.

"Oh, dear..." said Fiordiligi as she watched the spectacle. "What do we do?"

Torzukel walked up to them, brushing his cloak off and looking at the battle before him.

"We need to attack that demon," said Torzukel as Byron and Kuranga followed close behind him.

"And get ourselves like Ike?" asked Gaston. "Are you insane?"

"I would like to see you come up with a better idea," replied Byron, shrugging his shoulders. "His guard's concentrated on Sharotal at the moment."

"But he could have eyes on the back of his head!" shouted Maria as she helped Ike up to a standing position.

"Oh, damn it, we shouldn't sit here and argue!" said Ike, shaking his head in annoyance. "We need to figure out something to do!"

A moan suddenly sounded from Ike's feet, causing everybody to stare at each other before staring down at the floor to find Myriel laying there, eyes half open as his breathing came out.

"Well, will yeh look it dat?" asked Willie as he knelt down to Myriel's level. "De Governor be livin' now, 'e be!"

"W... Where is... my father...?" asked Myriel, finding the ability to speak suddenly.

"Myriel..." began Torzukel as he approached his son and knelt down. "What happened?"

"I don't remember..." he said slowly. "All I remember... great light, and then, here I am... All I remember are a few small details...Father, was I posessed?"

"Myriel..." the king said, tears rolling down the sides of his cheeks as he took his son's body into his arms. The prince made no response to the contact, his own golden eyes staring ahead of him almost blankly.

"I shall take that as a yes..." said Myriel. "All I remember... was the encounters I had with you... and this one thing about Ilemyr's soul..."

"What about it?" asked Ike, instantly pounding on the chance to ask Ilemyr questions.

"His soul..." Myriel began, before he coughed hard, closing his eyes and bringing his hand up to his mouth.

"Shh..." said Fiordiligi softly, bringing a hand to Myriel's forehead to make sure he was all right. "Don't talk much. Save your energy."

"I would not worry about that," said Kuranga calmly as he glanced back at Ilemyr. "As long as Ilemyr is alive, so too will Myriel live."

"Well, dat be perty good, don't yeh dink, Governor?" asked Willie, smiling lightly as he looked at Torzukel.

"Anyways, where were you?" asked Ike.

Myriel's coughing stopped, and he managed to open his eyelids.

"His soul is kept... within this temple," said Myriel. "He kept his soul in four... forbidden objects in passageways... visible only to those with a connection... to the spirits..."

"Okay, so we need to destroy these objects, right?" asked Gaston.

"There is... more than that," said the prince of Galdor in reply. "These passageways... are trapped..."

"Okay," said Ike. "But do we still need to destroy them?"

"Yes..." replied Myriel simply.

The mercenary looked up at the group.

"Okay, then, I guess that means we know what to do," said Ike. "We need to find those things and break them."

"But what do they do?" asked Maria.

"He holds a fragment of his soul in each object," said Myriel, the color very gradually returning to his face. "Only when all of the objects are destroyed can he be killed. He also holds a portion of all of his power in some of the objects. When they are all destroyed, he will become mortal once again."

"So we still need to destroy them all," said Maria.

"Essentially, yes," replied Myriel. "They are simple to destroy, but you must pass great obstacles..."

"Okay, here's what we'll do," said Ike, standing up briefly. "Torzukel, you'll stay here and watch over Myriel. Cecily and Gaston, you'll stay here and help Sharotal keep this guy at bay until we've destroyed all four objects. The rest of us will go with me."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Byron. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" said Myriel, summoning some strength before coughing hard again.

"What?" asked Ike, bending over the prince before anybody was able to move.

As soon as he stopped coughing, Myriel reached into his robes and pulled out two crystals, giving one to Ike and giving the other to Torzukel.

"Sending stones?" asked Ike, looking at the familiar object.

"Yes," replied the prince of Galdor. "The objects are on paths that are scattered throughout the temple. As soon as you break an object, let me know, and I can teleport you back to here."

"Well, if you can do that, why can't you just teleport us right to the objects?" asked the mercenary.

"I do not have a connection with the spirits," said Myriel. "And the objects cannot be destroyed unless you overcome the obstacles. Please, allow me to assist you as repentance for my past deeds..."

Ike briefly looked at the sending stone before he gripped it hard and nodded.

"You have my eternal thanks," said Myriel, a smile gracing his face as he spoke to the mercenary.

Ike simply nodded, standing up quickly and facing the rest of the group.

"Well, let's move!" said Ike. "We don't have time to waste!"

Everybody nodded, Gaston and Cecily both transforming before flying to Sharotal's side as Cecily's galdrar took over the sounds of battle.

And under the cover of Cecily's galdr, Ike nodded to Maria, Willie, Fiordiligi, Byron, and Kuranga before the six of them followed Kuranga to a wall. The dragon paused briefly, nodded, and he placed a hand on the wall, which opened a passage suddenly.

The mercenary walked forwards, taking a brief glance inside before stepping inside of the passage, everybody else following in his footsteps as the battle raged on behind them.

* * *

When Kuranga had walked forward just a bit in the dark passage, he lifted his head, scarlet eyes scanning the area in the darkness as Ike walked up to him with the rest of the group behind him.

"What's in here?" asked Ike.

"I am not sure," replied the dragon. "Willie, I think we could use a light."

"'Kay, Governor," replied the Cockney boy.

Seconds later, a fireball whizzed in the air, and in this brief lighting, Kuranga spotted a torch on the walls. Thankfully, he did not have to say anything, for then the fireball flew directly at the torch, lighting the item and thus providing a sustainable light source. Byron walked up to the torch, taking it in his hand and nodding.

"Well, we got pretty lucky, didn't we?" asked Byron. "Let's get moving."

Ike nodded quickly, turning to run forwards when he found a downwards sloping area with a pretty tame incline. Maria stepped close to him before nodding.

"Looks like a fast ride," said the cat laguz as the rest of the group looked down at the path. "Let's go!"

Ike looked down and nodded before taking a step forwards, Maria following him pretty closely as Byron, Kuranga, Willie, and Fiordiligi all followed the mercenary close behind.

However, no sooner had Ike taken four steps forward than the ground he was on descended a degree barely discernible to anybody. However, the sudden rumbling of the earth was enough to stop him in his tracks. A bunch of torches suddenly lit up in the hallway, and everybody looked around confusedly.

"What was that?" asked Ike.

"Well, don't ask me!" said Byron as he walked so that he stood next to Ike. "I'm not sure myself!"

"Guys, we don't have time to argue!" shouted Maria.

And as the cat laguz yelled at Ike and Byron, the rumbling became louder in Willie's ears so much that he turned around to see what was going on.

"Look, we should just get to the bottom of the slope and see what's there, all right?" asked Ike. "We can't--"

"Run, Governor!" yelled Willie suddenly, running to the side of the chamber and dragging Fiordiligi with him as Kuranga ran in the other direction.

The Cockney boy's yell diverted the attentions of Ike, Maria, and Byron, and then they saw what they had to run from.

And then, Ike, Maria, and Byron all ran off to the side as a giant boulder rolled right over the spot that they had been standing on, the rumbling increasing as another boulder appeared from the wall, which was now shown to have a bunch of large holes big enough for several boulders to pass through. As they saw the holes, another boulder rolled out of a hole on the other side of where the first boulder had come out, and then it rolled down the incline.

"Aw, damn it!" shouted Ike. "We have to deal with boulders?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice!" shouted Fiordiligi, who was just then running down the incline to meet Ike and the group. "Now let's get going!"

Ike watched as the boulder bounced off of a wall as it rolled down the incline, and then he ran down the incline itself with Maria and Byron in tow. Fiordiligi and Willie, who had just joined the lady when Ike had begun running, trailed off behind them as Kuranga ran at an equally fast rate despite the black robes on the other side of the incline.

Ike felt a slight drop in his step, and then he looked behind him right as another boulder was seen approaching the hole below the one that the first boulder had run out of.

"Damn it!" yelled the mercenary, panic rising in his mind as he grabbed Maria's hand.

He then veered towards the center of the incline as the boulder rolled onto the incline, dragging Maria with him as he went. Byron caught on to what Ike was doing, and he followed them blindly as Willie and Fiordiligi also followed in his step. The boulder then rolled past the spot where Ike and the gang had been running, staying on this side of the incline before rebounding off of a wall and rolling towards the center.

Ike again felt a decompression in the ground as he ran down the incline, realizing that he was setting off switches that released the boulders. He then looked behind him, noticing that a boulder was coming out of a hole that Kuranga was pretty close to running past.

"Kuranga, stop running!" yelled the mercenary.

Confused, the dragon stopped running just as the boulder rolled in front of him. As soon as Kuranga saw this, he stood there dumbfounded for a second before he ran forward again. Ike and the group ran towards the side of the incline that Kuranga had been running along to dodge the boulder as it rolled through the center of the incline past them.

Ike again felt the slight decompression as he ran, and he cursed under his breath as a boulder came out from right behind them and rolled so quickly it spun straight towards them. The mercenary stopped running, holding his arms out in front of him.

"Look out!" shouted Ike as he ran backwards, the rest of the group being forced to follow as Willie tripped over himself.

And as soon as Ike had run backwards, the boulder that was rolling by them crashed into the wall, setting loose another boulder from the hole on the other side of the wall that was headed straight towards them again. Willie scrambled to his feet as the boulder rolled down at them and looked back, emitting a scream as he saw the boulder.

Ike found himself letting out a yell as he made a mad dash forwards with Maria in tow. Kuranga, Byron, and Willie all followed him. However, the Cockney boy looked back to find Fiordiligi had tripped on herself just as the boulder was rolling towards her.

"Viordilegi!" yelled the Cockney boy as he fired a fireball at the boulder, hoping to offset its aim.

When the fireball connected, the boulder reeled back a little, Fiordiligi taking the brief interval to get back to her feet and grab her dress, running towards Willie as he ran back towards the rest of the group. After its aim was offset, the boulder began rolling straight down the incline. Byron glanced forward, noticing the end of the incline just ahead of them.

"Come on!" yelled Byron as Ike and the rest of the group continued to go forward in the chamber where the boulders rolled. Ike and the group managed to outrun the boulder that was going straight down the incline.

However, as the boulder whose trajectory had been offset by Willie rolled over the last switch, a boulder was let out directly below them. This boulder crashed straight into the boulder that had just been released, setting the boulder sailing straight towards the group. Maria looked behind her, and suddenly quite terrified at the boulder rolling at them, she let out a scream before quickly transforming into her laguz form and taking off with Ike on her back, Willie and Fiordiligi hanging on by her ears, Kuranga hanging on by her body, and Byron hanging on to her tail.

Her speed down the incline allowed them to dodge the boulder as it crashed against the wall, barely avoiding Byron's foot as the impact shook a few stones from the wall as the boulder embedded itself there. The other boulder rolled off to the side of the incline, and before it could roll back towards Maria she had made it to the bottom of the incline, where she did not stop running until she had gotten well away from the boulder. It then crashed into a rock wall, and the group was safe.

Maria transformed back into her human form, and as soon as she transformed, she fell onto the ground panting.

"I'm sure glad I don't have to walk through that thing again..." said Ike, also panting.

"Yeah," said Byron. "Speaking of which, where are we?"

This question made everybody silent, and as everybody slowly stood up, they looked around to find themselves in a massive cave that had several torches lit all over the sides of it that revealed an exact painting of Ilemyr's symbol on the ground in brown and black colors.

"So wet's dis 'ere?" asked Willie.

"I see a stone carving of Ilemyr," said Kuranga as he stared at the circle. "It is only in the spirit form right now, though."

"And why would that be?" asked Fiordiligi.

A rumbling was heard from ahead of them, and after a few earth-shaking footsteps, the group beheld before them a large creature made entirely of stone. It lurched forward, almost inspecting the group as Ike shrugged.

"Well, I guess we know the answer to that one," said Ike. "But how do we kill it?"

The rock monster suddenly held its arm up at Ike's group, and a wave of panic washed over everybody as they scattered in different directions away from the boulder that appeared from his arm as it rolled right by them.

"Think about it while we keep it from killing us!" yelled Byron suddenly.

Ike nodded, running as close as he could to the creature to inspect it.

The creature so conveniently took this time to swing one of its stony appendages in the air, and then it hit the ground very hard, Ike barely jumping up from the ground before a bunch of stalagmites emerged from the ground suddenly. The mercenary stared at the stalagmites briefly before looking back at the creature with a determined glow to his eyes.

And Ike happened to turn his head just as he saw a red jewel embedded into the creature's backside, the gemstone glinting in the torchlight as Ike raised Ragnell from where it had rested on his hip. He then ran at the jewel, jumped up, and slashed at the jewel, the blow connecting and causing a crack to appear in the jewel.

Ike looked back to the rest of the group, who were all ready to run as soon as they could if the monster so chose to send a boulder their way.

"There's a red jewel on its back!" shouted Ike. "Get it!"

Ike moved to jump at the jewel again, but as he did, he suddenly felt the world spin around as he was knocked away by the stony arms of the creature. Before he hit the wall, he saw Fiordiligi preparing to heal Ike from a distance as Willie ran in another direction.

When he landed on the ground, he felt Fiordiligi's healing touch flow through him, and as he stood up he saw Maria and Kuranga quickly transform into their laguz states, the small cat and the large dragon both making their way towards the stone creature. Byron, Chaos Spear in hand, went around behind the creature.

However, seeing the little man running around, the stone creature knocked Byron to the side as well, and Willie, who had just run, took note of this and subsequently ran in a wider arc so that the monster could not get him. Ike, hoping to distract the creature long enough for somebody to get at the jewel, sent an air wave at the creature, barely cutting off part of its arm.

Not to be deterred, the monster held up its arm again, aiming at Willie as if waiting to fire an arrow at him. However, before he could fire, Maria managed to distract the monster by jumping on its arm. Knowing that her fangs might crack, Maria resisted the urge to bite down on the stone as the monster grabbed her in its hand and tossed her aside.

However, the monster did not sense that Willie was behind him, and before it could react, the Cockney boy yelled.

"Take dis, Governor!" he shouted.

The room suddenly turned a reddish hue as magical lava appeared from a huge waterfall that seemed to reach to the heavens. Before long, this waterfall was spewing rocks this way and that, and then before long, a huge bolt of lightning came down and struck all of the stones. One of the fragments of this electrified stone drove straight into the crystal in the monster's back, and before anything else could be done a second crack appeared in the gemstone.

"Good, Willie!" yelled Byron.

"Wait!" said Fiordiligi, lowering her staff from healing Byron. "Ike! The sending stone!"

Ike, who had been gearing up to swing at the monster's stone, paused suddenly. He then quickly took out the sending stone that was in his shirt, and he tossed it to the lady, not yelling in the hopes of keeping the monster at bay. However, it noticed the stone flying at Fiordiligi, and it only took another swing of the arm to send Ike flying towards the wall again. As a wave of panic swept over her, she ran towards the sending stone, leaping to catch it and sighing in relief when she did.

"Torzukel?" asked the lady once as she stood up and straightened some of her golden locks of hair.

"Fiordiligi?" asked a disembodied voice from the stending stone.

"Okay, there you are," she said. "I need you to ask Myriel something. We're facing off against this stone creature, and we need to know how many times we need to crack that jewel in his back before that thing dies."

There was a brief mumbling in the background as she noticed that the fight was going on without her, Kuranga blowing some of his black breath at the stone creature as it tossed Maria off at the wall again.

"He says it needs to be cracked four times." Torzukel's voice boomed again after Maria had hit the wall.

"I see," said the lady as she held her staff up so she could heal Maria. "Thank you!"

She quickly stowed the sending stone away before she raised her staff again, this time at Ike as he rushed at the creature. Kuranga's breath was doing its work as the dragon approached the creature, but the creature was still thrashing around. In its thrashing, the creature had knocked Willie and Byron away, and they both hit the wall at exactly the same time as Ike's running was offset by the rise of a stalagmite from the ground.

As Fiordiligi raised her staff once again for Willie, Kuranga stood his ground as he got pummeled by the creature's fists. Eventually, he got so close that the dragon suddenly grabbed the rock creature's arms in its own, and then it thrashed in his grip.

Byron, who was rising as he saw Kuranga grapple with the creature, saw his chance. Grabbing his spear, he ran as fast as he could so that the jewel was within his line of sight. And when he saw the jewel, he tossed his lance at it and hoped it would connect with the jewel. And sure enough a third crack was heard from the jewel before Kuranga lost his hold, stumbling back as he suddenly transformed back to his human form and fell on the ground unconscious.

A wave of panic swept through Fiordiligi's being as she saw the might dragon fall in such a way, and she rushed towards him, staff in hand as she let out a yell and raised the staff high into the air, focusing all of her power on healing the dragon.

And then an interesting thing happened; the entire arena was engulfed in a bluish light as suddenly the cuts of every human being in the area healed up very rapidly.

Fiordiligi looked at the staff briefly, suddenly realizing she had gripped the staff at its base and smiling as everybody around her stood, bewildered at what they had just seen.

The lady made a mental note to remember that, and then she dragged Kuranga away as Ike had to jump to the side to avoid a stalagmite.

And suddenly, the creature was firing stalagmites and boulders at everybody in the room. Panic swept through Willie as he got the most stalagmites, and so he bolted around the room, narrowly dodging Byron, who was getting boulders aimed at him like there was no tomorrow. Maria took this as an opportunity, and jumping onto the creature's arm again, she ran on it to try to distract it long enough to stop firing boulders at her friends. This did not break the creature's concentration, as it decided not to pay attention to Maria again at all. Thus, they all ran around getting nothing accomplished with Fiordiligi watching from a distance with Kuranga by her side.

However, suddenly the stalagmites stopped rising from the ground, and no sooner did the monster notice this than the boulders stopped coming out of his arm. It paused as it tried to send another boulder rolling out of its arm.

Seeing his chance, Ike ran behind the creature, jumped up at the crystal, and this time he slashed the crystal, creating the fourth and final cut needed to crack the crystal.

As Ike landed, the rock monster suddenly lumbered around as it suddenly became nothing within the span of a few seconds.

Kuranga woke up and sat up, and as he looked before him, he saw the statue of Ilemyr suddenly materialize before them. It appeared whole for a brief moment before falling to the floor in a thousand little pieces.

* * *

In the arena where Ilemyr and Sharotal were duking it out, quite a bit had happened. Cecily's galdrar were really the only things keeping Sharotal active throughout the fight, and at a few points, the goddess had to use her sword when a hellhound got too close. Gaston was useless, as Ilemyr kept him at bay, the raven screaming in pain as he was given the same spell that the demon had used on Ike earlier. Torzukel had been working a countercharm on Gaston, hoping to keep him alive long enough for the group to destroy the first relic. Things were going very well for the demon indeed, and he smirked as he held his hand out at the raven, knowing it was only a matter of time before Sharotal was defeated.

And quite as suddenly as this thought graced Ilemyr's being, Gaston's yelling reduced itself to bitter whimpers before the group. Ilemyr's smirk dissapeared completely as he stared at his hand. He held it out again, and nothing happened.

"What?" shouted the demon. "That rat Myriel betrayed me! He shall die for his insolence!"

"Oh, but you forget that he is your lifeline," replied Sharotal loudly just before Ilemyr could move anything. "Without him, you cannot exist."

The demon glared at Sharotal as a bit of flesh suddenly appeared at his head, forming a face made of flesh with the same scarlet eyes that had been fixed in the darkness and no hair whatsoever.

"Oh, damn that stupid lizard..." grumbled Ilemyr angrily before turning his attention back to Sharotal.

As he did, though, Myriel had subtly muttered a chant, and no sooner had the words escaped his lips than suddenly from nowhere came Ike and his group, all of them panting fairly hard.

"Good job, sirs," greeted Torzukel.

"Thanks," said Ike, sapphire eyes gleaming slightly in the darkness as he regained his composure. "Now we need to move on."

"Right," said Myriel. "Quickly, now!"

Fiordiligi suddenly noticed Gaston lying on the ground in pain. Thinking quickly, she raised her staff, and then the raven stood up and turned around to face her.

"Thanks!" he cried, the lady just managing to wave her hand before Willie took it and led her to the pillar that Kuranga had just touched.

* * *

The chamber was almost instantly darkened when Ike walked down the stairs. However, he saw a flame that gave a dim glow in the middle of the room, and as Maria walked up behind him they all looked at the flame with a kind of strange admiration.

"The flame of Ilemyr's soul," said Kuranga as soon as he joined Ike. "This will end his connection to the hellhounds."

"Well, Governer, I den't see wy dem blokes 'ad teh leave dis ding 'ere," said Willie as he, too, joined Ike, Fiordiligi and Byron following him quickly.

"I agree," said the lady. "This seems quite simple to me."

Byron gave the flame a good look before he frowned, walking forward towards the flame.

"Too easy," said the general. "This room has traps in it."

"What sort of traps?" asked Maria as she walked forwards.

But then, she felt a slight decompression on her foot, and suddenly the room lit up with a thousand torches. Suddenly, the torches emitted a long column of flames that rotated around that flame.

"Those kinds of traps!" yelled Byron as he stared at the torches as they moved about. "We've got to do something about these traps!"

"Oh, I gots it, Governor!" yelled Willie, raising his hands high as a lightning bolt suddenly went through the room. However, when it passed by the flame, it was unaffected.

"Magic will not work," boomed Kuranga's voice.

"Oh, you mean we have to go in there and actually put it out by hand?" asked Ike. "But how are we supposed to do that?"

"We do what most desperate people would do in a situation like this," said Fiordiligi. "We go for it!"

And before anybody could say anything else, the lady ran towards the flames, hesitating for a moment to study the pattern of the torches as they rotated around the place.

"Viordilegi!" yelled Willie. "'Ave yeh lost yer moind?"

"Fiordiligi, don't!" added Maria to this, coming out from behind Ike.

However, Fiordiligi saw an opening in the first set of torches, and then she stepped past the first ring of torches just as Maria ran up to them. When she faced the flames, a terror suddenly sprung up in her being, and she instinctively shied away.

"Oh, be careful!" shouted Byron, holding his hand up to his mouth as he shouted at her as she paused to take one last glance at them.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" said Ike.

Fiordiligi nodded quickly before she looked ahead of her, seeing the ring of torches rotate before her. After studying the pattern again, she found an opening when one of the torches went out. As soon as she saw this, she ran right through the ring of fire and out to the other side, where she had to lean towards the fire she had just walked through to avoid a line of fire.

The lady was suddenly very nervous about this, but before she knew it, the fire in front of her died, so she ran forwards with a sigh of relief. She came upon another rotating ring with narrow spaces in between. However, the flames died, and she then saw another ring of fire behind it with larger spaces between it that was rotating at a very fast rate. Picking up the skirt of her white dress up, she waited for the flames in the first ring to die. When they did die, she ran right through the large space that was suddenly created before the flames could lick her flesh.

When she looked ahead of her, she smiled seeing how close she was to the flame. However, she found a line of flames, a rotating ring of flames, and a huge amorphous body of flames immediately before her. She suddenly tensed at the nervousness, and she tried her best to study the pattern. When she did, she found that the line of flames ahead of her went out for a period of two seconds before reigniting, with the wheel behind it spinning at a very rapid rate. The amorphous body of flame behind the ring of fire would show a little path through it every so often that changed very quickly.

Grabbing her dress once again, she waited for the perfect timing.

And then, when the line of fire in front of her died, she dashed through the line, running through the ring of fire as well before stopping at the amorphous body of fire as a ring within it without fire suddenly opened up. She suddenly became very nervous at how small the space was for her to walk with, so she gulped and entered the ring as it came up to her.

The lady grabbed her staff closer to herself as she walked, emerald eyes shining in uncertainty as she walked slowly, trying her best to stay with the fire that she was surrounded on all sides by. She felt like she was being burned alive in the heat caused by the flames, and as she walked around in the circle she knew that one single misstep could spell disaster for her. She thus followed with very small steps, only widening her gait when the ring seemed to travel faster than her. And then finally, it opened towards the other side, and Fiordiligi stepped off, sighing with relief as she stood next to the flame she needed to destroy.

"I made it!" shouted Fiordiligi, wiping some of the soot that had gathered on her face with her free hand and waving it as she turned back to face the rest of the group.

"Good job, Fiordiligi!" replied Kuranga's booming voice from the other side of the flames. "You must blow out the flame!"

"I figured as much!" replied the lady as she walked up to the flame that had lit the room so well before Maria had activated the flame trap. She then brought her mouth to the flame as close as she dared, and then, with one little blow of the flame, every single flame in the room burned out, leaving the group in pitch blackness as another fraction of Ilemyr's soul was released.

* * *

After the little incident where he lost his ability to keep Gaston in constant pain, Ilemyr found himself in a position he did not like to be in. As he summoned an infinite number of monsters to slay them, he was still being overpowered by the fact that Sharotal had Cecily singing galdrar for her. On top of that, that annoying raven was taking to the skies and helping Sharotal slay the monsters with the annoying father of his host providing a hand with the Fleur de Lyse every so often.

At least he was still able to summon an infinite number of hellhounds.

However, suddenly he felt another strange sensation, and suddenly the hellhounds stopped coming, and within a few seconds all of them were defeated.

"Damn!" exclaimed the demon angrily. "Impudent rascals! I shall not let them get away with this!"

Before anybody could say anything else, Ilemyr dissapeared into the ground as the flesh returned to his torso, white skin visible for a second before it fell through the floor completely.

However, before Ilemyr had dissapeared, Myriel had uttered the chant, and suddenly the group was right in front of him once again.

"Hurry!" said Myriel quickly. "Ilemyr is coming for you!"

"Okay!" said Ike, and then Kuranga and the rest of the group darted off before the mercenary paused to think.

"Torzukel, can you direct Sharotal, Cecily, and Gaston to the room we're not in?" asked Ike. "That might be a good idea."

"Yes I will," said Torzukel.

Ike nodded quickly before he rejoined his group as it sped off towards a wall. As soon as they dissapeared, Torzukel looked to Sharotal, Cecily, and Gaston.

"You three!" shouted Torzukel. "Find the last chamber!"

With the goddess walking ahead of them, Cecily and Gaston both walked over to another wall, and they dissapeared as well.

* * *

Ike walked into a hallway as the group followed him closely.

"I wonder what this trap is..." said the mercenary as they walked along.

"Mebe it be dem little dings dat zoom around in de air..." said Willie as they walked forward.

"It certainly does not look like it..." said Fiordiligi plaintively. "After all, I do not see any holes where they could come out of..."

Kuranga came up behind them as Maria and Byron did the same, Maria sniffling once before looking at the rest of the group.

"I don't know about you guys, but it smells pretty wet here..." said the cat laguz.

"Then it has to be a water trap," said Byron, as he shrugged. "But where's the water?"

At this moment, Ike's foot felt the familiar decompression, and suddenly rushing water was heard from ahead of them.

"Run!" yelled Ike, running the other way as the rushing water approached them.

The group had only enough time to turn around and begin running before suddenly a massive wall of water was seen rushing at them. Fiordiligi almost tripped on her dress, but she managed to keep running as the rest of the group ran forwards. They had but one thought racing through their heads at that one time; they knew they had to stay out of the water no matter what.

"Aw, dem it!" yelled Willie. "I ain't gonna be of no use 'ere!"

"Don't say that!" yelled Byron in response over the sound of rushing water.

Just after the general said this, he suddenly tripped and fell onto the ground. He was barely able to get up before he looked back and let out the loudest scream he had ever let out in his life before he got swallowed by the water behind him.

"Byron!" yelled Maria as she looked back in time to see the general surface at the face of the wall of water.

Byron took a moment to look at himself, red hair stuck to his face as he pumped a fist in the air and smiled triumphantly.

"I'm alive!" yelled the general.

He had spoken too soon, though, for as soon as he had said this, he felt something slimy wrap against his leg, and suddenly he felt a force tug him under the water. Fear for his life hit the general, and he suddenly splashed for the front of the rushing wall of water.

"Help!" he managed to yell as he struggled for air against the thing pulling him under.

"Oh no!" shouted Kuranga. "There is a monster in the water!"

"Help!" yelled the general once again, sputtering as he lost his strength.

"But what do we do?" asked Maria.

Willie, who had his head turned forwards the entire time, suddenly noticed something strange about the hallway.

"Eh, were are dem stairs?" he asked.

Suddenly, everybody's expression blanked out as they realized the implications of what Willie was saying. Everybody looked ahead of them suddenly and found a dead end ahead of them.

"Oh dear..." said Fiordiligi.

However, Kuranga took this opportunity to transform into his laguz form, and when he did, he flew straight down to the end of the hallway as Byron dissapeared under the wall of water. The force of his ebony wings was geared so that the wind intentionally sent everybody tumbling forwards, and then he joined them at the far end of the wall, turning around quickly and inhaling deeply. Ike, barely taking note of how much distance they had gained, looked back to warn Byron.

"Byron!" yelled Ike. "Look out!"

This warning came very late, however, for suddenly Byron's severed arm came out from the wall of water

"Holy..." said Maria, her eyes going blank.

It was at this time that Kuranga unleashed his breath, the grey mist emanating from his muzzle as a grotesque sea creature with large brown tentacles and very disturbing yellow eyes emerged from the wall of water. The mist connected with the creature, Willie quickly catching on and casting his Rexflame, and then time seemed to freeze as the lavafall appeared again, and this time it fell right on the creature's head.

Before anybody else could figure out what had happened, the creature was then sent flying from the wall of water, and then a jolt of terror hit everybody as they scrambled to get out of the way. Poor Kuranga was the only one who could not do so, for his large girth kept him from moving very much in the hallway. And thus, the two creatures collided at the end of the hallway, but not before the dragon was able to slash at the creature with its claws.

Ike, looking back to see that the wall of water had frozen in the position it had been in, looked forwards again, and he sent an air wave at the creature as Kuranga fought the creature with his claws. He slashed two, three, four times, getting all the more determined as he slashed at the monster. After the sixth swipe of his claws, the creature suddenly stilled, and then it collapsed into the ground as Willie summoned another lavafall for good measure.

The group panted, and suddenly Fiordiligi had the chance to look back to see the dismembered arm of Byron floating exactly where it had been floating before the water stopped rushing at them. Now, the water was very tranquil, despite the fact that mere moments ago it had rushed at them with incredible intensity. Upon seeing this, she was so terrified that the scream was caught in her throat, and so, after placing a hand on her forehead, she fainted. Seeing this and panicking, Willie ran towards the lady, getting to her just in time to catch her.

"Oh, no..." said Maria as she walked towards the wall of water, lavender eyes lighting up in horror. She placed a hand on it and suddenly found that the water parted to her touch. She then walked into the water a little bit, surprised at how the water moved around her. She turned around and smiled at everyone, noticing the canyon in the still water that she had created.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Maria. "Come on in! The water's fine!"

As Fiordiligi slowly opened her eyes, Ike and Kuranga did not hesitate to enter the now-frozen water, the two of them standing there waiting for Willie.

"Are yeh foine, mu'um?" asked the Cockney boy as he walked towards the water.

"That ranks as one of the most terrifying experiences of my life!" exclaimed the lady as she stood up and ran a hand through her hair. "Why is the water so still?"

"Oh, just come on already!" said Ike, and the two of them jumped as they noticed how far in the water Ike, Kuranga, and Maria all were. "Ilemyr will find you two if you just sit there talking!"

"All right, all right!" shouted the lady as she and Willie followed the trail that had been left by Ike. "No need to be so uncouth!"

The two of them caught up to Kuranga, Ike, and Maria, and Byron was all but forgotten, his dismembered arm still in the water that stood still as a rock around their forms as they moved to gain back the distance they had lost after being chased by the wall of water.

* * *

Cecily walked behind Sharotal, Gaston also following close behind as they suddenly felt the wind pick up in the chamber they were in.

"Goodness!" said the heron. "Why is it so windy here?"

"This is the chamber of wind," said the goddess in reply. "This is not the worst of that wind. Prepare yourself; we must travel through a chamber where the wind is very capricious."

"So you mean we've gotta walk throug this without off of something?" asked the raven. "What is this something?"

"A very thin platform," replied Sharotal.

"But can't you just have a shield go around us the entire trip?" asked Gaston as suddenly he saw a very long stretch of rope before him. This rope extended from a hole in the hall they were in, and the rope was the only thing connected to a round platform at the very end

"Platform?" asked Cecily. "That certainly does not look like a platform at all!"

"We must cross it nevertheless," said Sharotal. "There is a secret path you can find. If you successfully cross that secret path, you should find the Wind Machine."

"Oh, so there is a platform of some sort then," said the heron with a smile as Gaston looked ahead of him. "Might you direct us to it with a shield around us?"

"The shield cannot block the movement of the wind," replied the goddess. "However, I may be able to direct you through the path. I must warn you; it is made of the wind itself, and if you stay on one spot for too long you will be swept away with the wind."

"So keep moving," said Gaston. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Then let us get to it," replied Sharotal as she walked to the edge of the hall they were in.

She then took a dainty step over the edge, and suddenly the wind rushed to the spot where her foot was to hold her up. Her bright emerald hair swished in the wind violently as she took another step, the wind rushing to hold her other foot up as she slowly began to walk. Cecily and Gaston were both awestruck at what they saw, and they stared at each other before they noticed Sharotal turning so that she could walk over the rope.

"Uh..." said the raven. "I'll go first."

He then walked to the edge that Sharotal had walked off of, and he took a gulp before he stepped over. The wind rushed to his foot and supported him just as it had to Sharotal, and then his eyes widened as he took another step and had the wind hold up his foot again.

"Hey!" shouted Gaston happily as he walked forward. "This actually works!"

"Oh," said Cecily as she smiled happily as the raven truggled to follow Sharotal, who had walked to her left after crossing the rope. "Then I guess I am up next, am I?"

And with this, the heron daintily stepped over the edge of the hall, the wind rapidly flying to her feet to hold her up, and then she followed Gaston as he clambored after Sharotal. The wind would beat violently at them, but as the goddess criss-crossed over the rope again and again, the wind never failed to hold them up, and so they set off to the platform at the other end of the rope.

When Sharotal finally approached the platform, she walked in a spiral around it before stepping on to it, Gaston getting impatient as he neared it.

"Remember, you cannot jump," reminded the goddess. "Or else the winds will sweep you up!"

"Hey, I've waited too long to get here!" shouted the raven loudly. "I'm jumping, and I don't give a damn about what these winds do!"

And as soon as his feet left the platform, the wind stopped as he joined Sharotal on the platform. His feet firmly planted on the platform, he turned around just as Cecily let out a yell and descended down into the pit below her.

"Cecily!" shouted Gaston, running over to the edge of the platform and looking down.

However, she saw the heron rise up in her transformed state, and she landed onto the platform just as the winds began to pick up again.

"If being defiant against the winds was all it could have taken us to get over here just fine, why did you fail to mention it?" asked Cecily.

"Ilemyr must have changed the rules..." replied the goddess. "I was not able to see that in the chamber at all..."

"Well, what can I say?" asked Gaston, amber eyes glancing at the small little cyclone that danced on the circular altar next to him. "Let's destroy this thing, shall we?"

"Of course," replied Sharotal. She took Jeglorde in her hands, and with a mighty yell she sliced the cyclone next to her. And as soon as she did, the winds died, leaving them on a platform in perfectly still air as the goddess looked ahead of her, pupils dilated.

"Sharotal?" asked Gaston.

The goddess was snapped out of her reverie by the raven, and she turned to them.

"Ilemyr's mortality is returning to him," she replied. "I can feel it."

"Well, then if that's so, let's get over to where Ike is so we can help kick his butt!" cried Gaston as he jumped over the platform and flew over the rope.

"I agree," replied the heron as she too took to the skies. "Let us go!"

As the two of them dissapeared, Sharotal shook her head.

"Such headstrong spirits..." said the goddess. "So headstrong, they forgot about me..."

She then daintily placed one foot on the rope connecting the platform with the hallway, and then she walked quickly over the very small rope, keeping perfect balance as she managed to cross the rope with a speed very similar to that at which Cecily flew towards the hallway.

* * *

Ike sifted through the water that seemed frozen in time, the rest of his little group following closely behind. They had been travelling through the water for ages

"Man, how long was this hallway?" asked the mercenary.

"I don't remember," replied Maria after she turned around to take a breath of air.

"And where is the source of the water?" asked Kuranga. "The source is very important!"

Fiordiligi turned around to take a breath, and then when she turned back around she noticed the water suddenly lead up towards a hole in the cieling.

"I think that might be the source," said Fiordiligi.

Willie looked down at the ground, noticing they were almost at the source of the water.

And then, Ike had walked out of the water and into the air, where his cobalt hair was soaked and his black headband was certainly not faring any better. His clothes were also all soaking wet, and as Maria came out of the water she found her lavender hair to be plastered all over her face.

"Hey!" shouted the cat laguz as Fiordiligi promptly followed them out of the water.

"Dis ain't cool!" shouted Willie, who had also just come out and was shaking his head to get some water out of his hair.

"I do wish someone could have warned us of this!" added Kuranga as he too stepped out of the water while he straightened his long black hair. "The spirits were not kind to us at all!"

"Anyways, we're out of the water," said Ike. "Let's find what we need to break."

"Could that be it?" asked Maria as she pointed towards a room at the end of the hall.

Ike's blue eyes narrowed into barely perceptible sapphires as he looked ahead of him, and as he walked into the room he could not help but look up to see what was there.

Above him hovered a huge body of water that threatened to come crashing down on them any second. Droplets of water fell from this large body every few seconds, and every so often a drop of water would fall above an altar. This altar had a very large jug on it, and Ike could not help but wonder that it was the jug that was doing all of this mystical work with the water.

"I think it is here," said Ike. "Are any of you afraid the water will crash down on us any second?"

"Probably," said Maria. "Fiordiligi, the sending stone?"

"Not a good idea," rebuked Kuranga as the cat laguz shook her tail to get the water out of it. "Fiordiligi has the strongest bond with Torzukel of the group."

"Oh, all right," said the lady. "So Ike, should you slash at it with air?"

"'Ey!" yelled Willie, green eyes expressing anger at being neglected. "What about me?"

"Your fire spells will do nothing against water," replied the dragon laguz.

"No need teh be so mean teh me, Governor," replied Willie. "I wes jus' tryoin' teh 'elp, I was!"

Nobody said anything, not wanting to have Willie get angry at them. Ike prepared his blade for the slash that would destroy the jar before them.

"Here goes!" said the mercenary.

He let out a yell as he sliced Ragnell at the jar, and the wave of air connected with the jar as it shattered into a thousand little pieces.

The water failed to hold after the jar broke, and within a second the water began to descend onto the room.

However, seconds before the impact, Ike and the group instantly warped away, and shortly afterwards water flooded the hallway with a speed that could not be overcome by any human being.

Ike felt air below him, and then he hit the ground face-down, everybody else that was in his small little clique doing the same thing as Ike pushed up with his arms. Groaning, he looked up to find Myriel with a smile on his lips as Torzukel held on to his son for dear life.

"The objects have all been broken," said the prince. "His mortality has been restored."

"But that doesn't make sense!" shouted Maria as she quickly stood up. "We only destroyed three of them.

"I sent Cecily, Gaston, and Sharotal to destroy the fifth one," said Ike. "Now, where's this guy?

"He is coming," said Kuranga. "I can feel him coming."

And sure enough, before them the black smoke materialized, this time forming pale flesh that was completely exposed to the outside world, red eyes flaring in anger as he stared Ike down. Before anybody else could say anything else, however, Fiordiligi let out a disgusted groan.

"Look, if you are going to kill everybody on the continent, at least wear a lioncloth!" exclaimed the lady. "I am pretty sure the people who would come to kill you afterwards would be repelled at how indecent you--!"

The lady did not finish her sentence, for then suddenly the room went dark, and out of nowhere two blades suddenly rushed at her. Fiordiligi panicked, letting out a scream as she raised her staff so high it almost touched the tip of the blades that were trying to kill her. And just before the blades could connect, they suddenly hit a light green sphere of energy, and hte blades dissipated as the light returned to the room.

"Do not harm her!" boomed Sharotal's voice from an opening in the wall as Cecily and Gaston ran over to the rest of the group to join them.

"You would do well to hold your mouth shut, woman," stated Ilemyr, pointing dangerously at Fiordiligi. "I can parade around this continent in whatever amount of clothing I wish!"

"You forget that it is just us now," replied Kuranga.

"Yeah, Governor!" yelled Willie. "Now yeh don't 'ave novin' te 'elp yeh out!"

"So it's just us now," said Ike. "Are you prepared for us?"

"If you could get past all of my traps, I must give you props; I never thought anybody would be able to do that at all," said the demon. "I am prepared for whatever you have to throw at me!"

"Then let's begin," said Ike, his group readying their weapons, including Torzukel who stood up and held his tome in his arms.

A tense silence filled the area as Ilemyr stared down the rest of the group, the laguz in the party transforming silently as Ilemyr's gaze penetrated them all.

The demon made the first strike, sending his hand out into an arc in front of him and causing a razor sharp wave of air to appear from nowhere. This was blocked with a well-timed shield from Sharotal, and then the fight had begun.

Maria went in first, dashing at the demon and successfully landing a scratch on his cheek that leaked blood. Growling himself, the demon did a quick hand sign, and this surrounded the cat laguz in a crystal cage. Her eyes turning feral, she clawed at the crystal that imprisoned her, letting out an angry roar as she did so.

Suddenly, however, a lavafall had come from the cieling, and Ilemyr barely had time to jump out of its way before he saw the stones come down with the heavens. He did not have time to get back on his feet before the familiar lightingbolt hit and sent the stones every which way, one hitting the back of his head very hard as the heat became unbearable.

Ilemyr growled, not liking where this turn of events was going. Quickly standing back up, he produced a shield just in time to block a dive from the raven that had killed his hellhounds. As Gaston was sent bouncing away from the force of his collision with the shield, Ilemyr looked to the side and jumped out of the way just as Sharotal went in with Jeglorde swinging at the demon violently. He then dodged a stab that the goddess had sent in his direction. Seeing an opportunity to attack, Ilemyr then sent his fist flying at Sharotal's face so that the back of his fist collided with her cheek. This sent the goddess reeling a good few feet away from him. He then leapt up to avoid an air wave that was sent out from Ragnell. However, he happened to jump right into the gray breath of Kuranga, and then he sputtered in anger as the gray mist sent him flying onto the ground.

When he stood back up, he then summoned the two blades of darkness again. However, this time the blades of light that were the Fleur de Lyse were summoned at the same time, and then it became a fantastic clash of light and darkness as the dark edges clanged against the swords of light. Ilemyr growled once again as he saw Fiordiligi raise her staff high in the air, a blue light flowing over the area and healing everybody that had gotten injured by the demon's fighting.

Ike's sapphire eyes stared straight at the demon as he got up, sending another air wave out at them. Sharotal again blocked this with a shield as she stood up, and then she ran back at Ilemyr, slashing at him almost blindly with Jeglorde. As he dodged these strikes, he failed to notice Gaston in the skies again, and it was only when he felt the impact of a beak against him that he lost his concentration. As he rolled over, the goddess successfully struck the demon in the leg.

When he stood up, he barely noticed Maria break out of her cage with one final stroke of her claw, and as both blades of darkness were vanquished by the tome that summoned the blades of light, he jumped quickly out of the way as the cat laguz ran towards him. The blades of light suddenly raced at him, and since he barely had any time to move at all the swords slashed at the demon's skin.

As soon as he stood up, the demon glared at everybody else.

And suddenly, he brought his hand out, and an eerie red glow filled the room.

And the most curious thing happened afterwards; every laguz in the room suddenly morphed back into their human states without even thinking very hard about it. On this, they had no time to ponder, for then Willie and Torzukel let out a bunch of yells as the tomes they held in their hands caught fire. Quickly, they dropped them and watched as the flames instantly went out to show nothing but dust. And without explanation, Jeglorde suddenly bent into a useless spiral, the blade instantly rusting as it fell from its hilt. Gardelia's Staff was the only weapon spared this death, but the orb dissapeared into thin air only seconds after Fiordiligi took note of this.

Everybody stared blankly at their weapons, dumbfounded by this development. However, Ike turned around to look at his own sword to find that Ragnell was still intact.

"So you work with the goddess?" asked Ilemyr. "Fine! Fight me without your weapons!"

As soon as he said this, he suddenly noticed Ike rushing at him. By the time he was ready to move, however, Ike was already there, and he slashed Ilemyr's hand right off of his arm quickly. The demon let out a yell, holding the spot firmly with his other arm and staring at the mercenary.

"I don't fight with Sharotal," said Ike simply, oceanic blue eyes burning in anger. "I fight with Yune."

And with this, he jumped into the air, intending to do a jump slash on Ilemyr. The demon dodged this with incredible precision, and taking advantage of Ike's anger, he sent a fist flying at his face.

The fist connected with the mercenary, but he was not fazed. He then glared at the demon, laughing bitterly as he wiped the blood that was travelling down his jaw.

"You just picked the wrong man to mess with today," said the mercenary.

Before Ilemyr could do anything else, Ike quickly bashed the demon's chin with the broad side of his blade, sending the demon in the sky. Tossing the blade up into the air, Ike lept up and grabbed the blade once again, Ragnell becoming imbued with flames as he slashed at the demon.

After that, Ike kept the barrage up as the two of them were held in midair. The flames from Ragnell charred the demon, and the blade itself slashed into his skin multiple times as Ike hacked furiously at Ilemyr, throwing in a kick here and there for good measure. Finally, Ike let out a yell, brows furrowing as he held the blade behind him and rapidly sent a vertical slash at the demon. This sent both of them rocketing towards the ground, and then an explosion was seen as Ike jumped away from Ilemyr and landed on his feet a little bit away from him.

Ilemyr, who had blood running down the sides of his burnt flesh, picked himself up from the ground once.

"N... no..." said the demon. "Th... This cannot... be... Where did... I...?"

And then, he fell onto the ground, his arms no longer able to support him as the last of his life left his body.

There was silence for a brief period of time before Ike looked back at the rest of the group.

"Well, that's it," said Ike. "He's been defeated."

A cough sounded from within the chamber, and all eyes turned to Myriel as the stalk dissapeared from his back. Everybody in the room ran over to the prince, Torzukel kneeling down to take him in his arms as everybody else knelt down.

"Good job..." said Myriel, his life quickly ebbing away. "The rulers... are in this chamber..."

The sound of a door opening was suddenly heard from behind them, and they briefly glanced behind them to find a door that was wide open.

"Go... now..." said the prince. "Get them out... of their... trance... Send them all... my deepest... apologies..."

And then Myriel went limp in Torzukel's arms, long white hair resting against his father's robes as a profound silence took over everybody in the large temple.

After a while, Maria stood up, facing the door, lavender hair dissarrayed from everything they had to do.

"Well then," she said. "Since it's over, let's get these guys out of their trances."

Everybody nodded solemnly, slowly standing up as they followed the energetic cat laguz over. Ike approached her quickly, straightening his hair as Maria slowed down to look at him.

"You know, that was a pretty crazy move you did there," said the cat laguz quickly. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

"I didn't know I could do it," said Ike. "It just happened, I guess."

"Well, whatever it was that you did, it saved us all," said Gaston, who was also walking up to Ike. "I feel bad for Torzukel, though. And especially Myriel..."

"Oh, I hope he is redeemed for his actions in assisting us..." said Fiordiligi, who was behind them as the rest of the group joined the cat laguz in walking towards the door.

Finally, they paused in front of the door, looking at each other to see who would go first.

And after this brief period of pondering, Sharotal stepped forwards, and sending a warm smile at everybody in the area, she stepped into the room, everybody else following shortly afterwards.


	18. Epilogue: The Start of a New Adventure

And, the epilogue for the first book is here. At the end of this section, I've tagged a little RD convention on reader request. So here's one final little scene before the guys leave Greljedo for the rest of the epic.

Anyways, away epilogue! Enjoy!

* * *

Epilogue: The Start of a New Adventure

Ike stood off to the side as a joyful reunion took place beween the hypnotized royals and everybody else in their armies. The temple's large arches helped his thoughts along, but overall, he was just glad everything with this demon was finally over.

Now, it was time to move on. But he was very sure that with Byron gone, there was no way to seek passage to any other lands that lay waiting for him to trod upon. So he was very perplexed as to what he should do.

As he watched the proceedings going on with the royals, he found that suddenly the familiar green light that emanated from Sharotal's being was approaching him. He shifted uncomfortably, sapphire eyes glancing at the goddess.

"Is something the matter?" asked the goddess. "I can see a strange sense of questioning that I have never seen in you before."

Ike sighed, eyes closing momentarily to ponder his response. He would have fobbed any other person off, but he knew he could not lie to Sharotal and get away with it.

"I was thinking of leaving the continent," said Ike. "Some friends wanted to go, too. But we don't have any boats left..."

"Who said you needed a boat made by the efforts of men?" asked the goddess. "Come with me. I shall show you how you can travel along the seas."

The goddess promptly stepped outside of the temple, Ike shrugging and following her out as they walked back through the burnt forest to the northwestmost part of the Isle of the Ancients. When they finally arrived at a very tiny little peninsula, the goddess stopped, facing Ike as he lumbered over the burnt logs that had toppled over in the fire.

"I assume you do not want to return to Tellius," said the goddess when Ike finally caught up.

"Already been there all my life," said Ike. "I want to see new places."

"Then we are at the correct spot," said the goddess, closing her jade eyes shortly afterwards as a magic circle appeared beneath her feet.

And then, suddenly, a small vessel made of shining green light appeared before them. Ike's eyes widened in amazement, and when the boat fully materialized, he touched it to find that it was also as solid as the hardest steel.

"You..." said Ike, unable to continue as the ability to talk left him entirely.

"Yes, I have," said the goddess. "Now come. We must gather everybody for your departure."

As Sharotal walked back to the temple, the mercenary stood dumbfounded at the ship for a few seconds more before finally running after the goddess, catching up just as she was about to dissapear into the burnt forest.

* * *

Ike stood at the edge of the Isle, looking at all of the rulers of the nation as they smiled at him. Maria shifted her feet around nervously behind him, Willie doing the same thing with Fiordiligi, Gaston, and Kuranga all remained unfazed at what was happening.

Behind them stood a vessel made purely of Sharotal's energy, the green light glowing ethereally as Cecily, Torzukel, and the rest of the leaders of the nations stepped forwards with a broad smile on their face. The ocean behind Ike stood out majestically over everything else

"You have our eternal thanks for saving the continent," said Torzukel in turn, golden eyes betraying a sad quality about them.

"You're welcome," said Ike. "I'm sorry about what happened to Myriel."

"Worry not," replied the king of Galdor. "It is not your fault. Still, I will miss my son."

"And you're forgetting you need a new heir!" pointed out Maria from behind him.

"That can be taken care of much more easily than you think," said Torzukel.

"For now, this is farewell," said Sharotal.

"And what's going to happen to you, now that you've outserviced yourself here?" asked Ike.

"There is still much to do," replied the goddess. "However, I will stay here as the guardian of Greljedo. It is destiny's calling."

"I see..." said the mercenary. "Did you guys manage to find Byron?"

"His arm was all we found," said Cecily. "We also found the Chaos Spear, which was the only holy weapon that did not disintigrate."

"And I'll assume you'll keep that... where, exactly?" asked Maria.

"Stobin," said Cecily quickly. "We have all agreed to it."

"And you'll give what was found of Byron a proper burial, right?" asked Ike.

"Of course," said Sharotal. "We shall see to it that he is buried."

"Poor man..." said Maria, shaking her head mournfully.

Sharotal's eyes darted at the horizon suddenly, jade orbs then glancing at Ike.

"I should not keep you here," said the goddess. "Destiny calls."

"Okay then," said Ike. "And if I ever get lucky enough to swing by this place, I'll be sure to say hi to every one of you."

"All right," said Cecily. "Goodbye!"

As Ike and Maria boarded the ship, Fiordiligi, Willie, Kuranga, and Gaston all boarded it as well, and when the ship sailed away for another land unknown to any of them. And as the leaders of Greljedo all waved at the ship, it dissapeared into the distance towards the setting sun.

* * *

**_Coming Up..._**

**_Legends tell of monsters and demons that should never have been awakened again in the course of time. As the monsters reawaken, so too does a strange bird with feathers of fire that was omitted from the legends. In the midst of the complete destruction of an entire nation, Ike will deal with a supernatural phenomenon the like of which he has never seen before..._**

**Book 2: The Hut on Chicken's Legs**

* * *

A/N: Well, guys, here's the end of the first book. I know, the epilogue is all 'blah', but hey, I'm saving good epilogue ideas for later!

So, I'm not going to give any hints on what's going to happen in Book 2 now. However, all I'll say is this; the title of the book gives a hint as to what will be happening next.

And also, I'd appreciate it if you all left a review! I've seen quite a few hits from this sucker for a while, but I haven't seen reviews to make up for it. So please, if you've been watching this book intently, leave reviews! This will be your last chance to do so before I move on to Book 2, so any tips would help out a LOT! Please?

And with that, I'll see you all at the next book of Legend.

-Herr Wozzeck


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